Anzac Day March, 1980

An unidentified veteran of the First World War (right) supports his blind friend (left) during the 1980 Anzac Day march in central Sydney. Despite their repeated appearance in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Anzac Day coverage in the 1970’s, the names of these men were never recorded by journalists. The caption for this image instead stated “Arm-in-arm…two old cobbers in the Sydney march”. Analysis of the men’s medal groups by AWM curators has revealed that the blind veteran wears not only his First World War campaign medals, but also a King George V Silver Jubilee Medal (1935) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil). He also has a NSW Blinded Soldiers’ Association badge pinned to his left lapel. These decorations, in conjunction with a comparative images held in other collections, point towards the identity of the veteran as 319 Captain Frederick Oswald (Fred) Aarons. A 26 year old farmer from Grafton NSW prior to enlistment on 24 August 1914, Bombardier F. Aarons served with the First Brigade, Australian Field Artillery at Gallipoli, rising through the ranks to 2nd Lieutenant by October 1915. On 12 December 1915 he suffered shrapnel wounds to the right eye and shoulder at Gallipoli, and was evacuated first to Cairo, then Australia in January 1916 for medical discharge as permanently unfit for military service. Following convalescence, his termination of appointment was cancelled and he was promoted to Captain on 1 September 1916. Captain Aarons embarked for the Western Front on 19 November 1916. On 10 August 1917, while serving with the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade in Belgium, Captain Aarons was severely wounded again in his right eye and suffered a detached retina in his left. He was evacuated to England and then Australia in late 1917. On the 15 February 1918 his appointment was terminated in Sydney due to defective vision. Despite his disability, Frederick Aarons was heavily involved with NSW politics and journalism in the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in his being awarded the the MBE (Civilian) in 1937. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on May 11th that “Captain Frederick Oswald Aarons is President of the Australian External Affairs Society in Sydney, and a member of the League of Nations Union. In 1932 Captain Aarons took over the voluntary position of secretary of the Rural Employment Scheme for Boys. He is also president of the Blinded Soldiers' Association of New South Wales, and, while in England recently, he attended the blinded soldiers' conference”. In 1978, his property, with all its effects at Bundanoon, NSW, was destroyed in a fire; however his medals were retrieved and restored with new ribbons. Frederick Oswald (Fred) Aarons died on 15 January 1984 aged 96.