The Wicked Boy (43 page)

The 13th trained hard. . .
Account of 13th in Egypt from diaries of Laseron, Shirtley, Susman and Hobson (see above), 13th Infantry Battalion war diaries November 1914–December 1915 (AWM: 4, 23/30/1–14) and White,
The Fighting Thirteenth
.

‘
The Terror
'
. . .
See photographs by Joseph Cecil Thompson at
www.flickr.com/photos/eethompson
.

the same penny fiction. . .
A few commentators connected the spirit of the dreadfuls to the practice of war. ‘Do not grow indignant when you see an errand boy with his eyes glued to a penny dreadful!' cautioned the
Aberdeen Evening Express
on 23 May 1917. ‘We have seen in the heroism of our battlefield the result of the love of courage and adventure it engenders and keeps alive.' In the
Century Magazine
of November 1916, St John G. Ervine described the armed insurrection in Dublin in Easter 1916 as an accident that grew out of romantic fantasies: ‘It was as if boys, letting their imaginations feed too fat on penny dreadfuls, had forgotten that they were only pretending to be wild Indians attacking Buffalo Bill, and had suddenly scalped a companion or halved his skull with a tomahawk.'

At the start of a night march. . .
Described by the 13th Battalion bandmaster, Percy ‘Richo' Copp,
Reveille
, 1 May 1940.

their battalion
'
s stretcher-bearers. . .
Account of training from George M. Dupuy,
The Stretcher
Bearer
(1915).

On 11 April, recalled Sergeant Charles Laseron. . .
Account of trip to Gallipoli mainly from Laseron's diary (see above), and his article in the
Sunday Times
, Sydney, on 11 July 1915. In the newspaper version, he softened the punchline of the song about Major Ellis, replacing ‘May God strike him dead' with ‘Something strike him red'. Details also drawn from White,
The Fighting Thirteenth
; diaries of Susman, Hobson and Shirtley (see above); Copp's reminiscences in
Reveille
, 1 May 1940; and recollections of Lt W. H. Mankey in
Sunday Times
, Perth, 11 June 1916.

Gallipoli. . .
Account of Gallipoli campaign chiefly from Charles Bean,
The Story of Anzac, Vols I
&
II
(11th edition, 1941); Pedersen,
The Anzacs
; Hart,
Gallipoli
; Butler,
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Vol. I
. Details of 13th Battalion at Gallipoli from White,
The Fighting Thirteenth
; the battalion's war diaries November 1914–December 1915 (AWM: 4, 23/30/1–14); Thomas Ray Crooks's war diary, 11 February 1915 to 24 May 1918 (ML: MSS 838); and diaries of Laseron, Hobson, Shirtley (see above).

The bearers were kept busy. . .
See Butler,
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Vol. I
; Emily Mayhew,
Wounded: From Battlefield to Blighty, 1914–18
(2013); Mark
Johnston,
Stretcher-Bearers: Saving Australians from Gallipoli to Kokoda
(2015); Joseph Lievesley Beeston,
Five Months at Anzac: a Narrative of Personal Experiences of the Officer Commanding the 4th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force
(1916); and war diary of Frederick Wray, chaplain to 4th Brigade, AWM: PR00247.

‘
The stretcher-bearers are great. . .
' From letter to the editor of the
Sydney Morning Herald
by Harold G. Massey, cited in P. Cochrane,
Simpson and the Donkey: the Making of a Legend
(1992).

Private Ray Lingard. . .
Letter printed in
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners
'
Advocate
, 16 July 1915.

James Dow. . .
See transcript of Dow's letter at
ddoughty.com
. According to his AIF record (NAA: B2455, Dow, JG), Dow was invalided home with neurasthenia in April 1916. According to Ben Shephard's
A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Twentieth Century
(2000), the troops most vulnerable to shell shock in the First World War were those who were obliged to endure enemy assaults without being able to retaliate.

‘
It was just hell pure and simple. . .
' George McClintock, quoted in Pedersen,
The Anzacs
.

‘
Some of these are very ghastly. . .
' Quoted in Pedersen,
The Anzacs
.

‘
We have been fighting now. . .
' Quoted in Hart,
Gallipoli
.

‘
There is not a front line. . .
' In a letter to Sorrell's parents in Lithgow, reproduced in
Sydney Morning
Herald,
29 June 1915.

‘
Grenades like showers of peas. . .
' Quoted in Hart,
Gallipoli
.

Robert had escaped serious injury. . .
He had been blown up twice on Gallipoli and also sustained a gunshot wound, according to the information he gave on being discharged – see repatriation case file NAA: C138/ R30557.

Robert
'
s fellow bearer James Dow. . .
See
ddoughty.com
.

About 10,000 AIF soldiers. . .
See Butler,
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services,
1914–1918, Vol. I
.

Nattie was also serving. . .
Some 850 Royal Navy men were serving with the Royal Australian Navy at the outbreak of the war, comprising about a fifth of the RAN. Nattie's war career is detailed in NAA: A6770, Coombes NG. For the fortunes of the
Australia
see Arthur Wilberforce Jose,
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 Volume IX: The Royal Australian Navy, 1914–1918
(9th edition, 1941) and Fazio,
The Battlecruiser HMAS Australia
.

‘
The perspiration dripped. . .
' See
Richmond River Herald
, 4 January 1916.

rabbit-skin coats. . .
See
Graphic,
9 June 1916.

transferred to one of the sanitary sections. . .
Robert was assigned to the 3rd Sanitary Section in February and transferred to the 4th
Sanitary Section when the 4th Division was created in March. For his service with the 4th Sanitary Section, from March to October 1916, see NAA: B2455, Coombes RA; the 4th Sanitary Section war diaries (AWM: 4 26/79); and Butler,
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Vol. II – The Western Front
(1941).

building box-latrines. . .
Charles Bean,
The Story of Anzac, Vol. III: the Australian Imperial
Force in France, 1916
.

the first anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. . .
See McDowell Paul,
Blessed with a Cheerful Nature
.

recommended for a Military Medal. . .
See
www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1583110
.

incidence of shellshock. . .
236 cases were diagnosed in the 4th Division in 1916, compared to three in the 3rd Division, according to Butler's
Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Vol. II
; the author points out that this may have been in part because the 4th's Medical Officer was more inclined to diagnose the condition.

Sergeant Rodgers. . .
See Frank Rodgers's record (regimental number 47019) in TNA: British Army WW1 Service Records, 1914–20 and his medal card at TNA: WO 372/17/65366. The record indicates that Frank's life after the war was rockier. In 1929 he was remanded at Marylebone police court on a charge of larceny and receiving. He died in Lambeth in 1965.

45th Battalion. . .
For Robert's service with the 45th Battalion, from October 1916 to October 1918, see NAA: B2455, Coombes RA; the 45th Battalion diaries (AWM: 4 23/62); Butler,
Official History
of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918, Vol. II
; and J. E. Lee,
The Chronicle of
the 45th Battalion, AIF
(1927).

the
‘
London Gazette
'
announced. . .
On 27 October 1916. See
www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1542612
.

‘
It was too bad! 
'
. . .
Cairns Post
, 28 April 1919.

Robert proved an effective bandmaster. . .
According to the reminiscences of Henry Herbert Neaves of the 45th Battalion (AWM: 2DRL/0752), Robert ‘proceeded to lick the bandsmen into shape'. In his history of the 45th Battalion, J. E. Lee reported, ‘The men soon became very proud of their band whose influence in assisting to maintain the morale of the unit in the strenuous months ahead was invaluable.'

William Alabaster. . .
See NAA: B2455, Alabaster W, and letters from Alabaster to his family, AWM: 1DRL/0016.

The AIF no longer used its musicians. . .
In ‘The Stretcher-Bearer Tradition', an essay in
As You Were: A Cavalcade of Events With the Australian Services From 1788–1947
(1947), Charles Bean explained, ‘Until the First Battle of the Somme many battalions had used their bandsmen as stretcher-bearers. After that battle this
system generally was abandoned. For one thing, after such battles the band was too badly needed for cheering up the troops! A battle like Pozières sometimes made a clean sweep of the regimental bearers. Also, on its side, the work of the bearers was too important to be left to unselected men; they were now specially selected for their physique and guts.'

marching out to meet the troops. . .
In a diary entry of 26 February 1917, Thomas Ray Crooks records, ‘Our Band came up from “Dernancourt” this afternoon and gave the Bn some music, cheered the boys up a little' (ML: MSS 838).

it struck camp once every five days. . .
See Lee,
The Chronicle of the 45th Battalion, AIF
.

the band sometimes led the way. . .
In diary entries of 27 February 1917, for example, Thomas Crooks and James Vincent of the 45th record that the band led the battalion from Mametz to Bècourt (Crooks diary, ML: MSS 838, and Vincent diary, AWM: PR90/025).

The mechanisms in the men
'
s rifles. . .
See E. P. F. Lynch,
Somme Mud: The Experiences of an
Infantryman in France, 1916–1919
, a fictionalised memoir by a 45th Battalion soldier, composed in the 1920s, edited by Will Davies and published in 2006.

On the coldest nights. . .
See G. D. Mitchell,
Backs to the Wall: A Larrikin on the Western Front
(1937).

Christmas Day 1916. . .
See war reminiscences of H. H. Neaves, AWM: 2DRL/0752.

‘
We live in a world of Somme mud. . .
' From Lynch,
Somme Mud
.

Herring recommended him for the Military Medal. . .
See
www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1594096
. The award was announced in the
London Gazette,
16 August 1917 – see
www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1520876
.

‘
We
'
re a pretty casual sort of army. . .
' From Lynch,
Somme Mud
.

Robert and his friend Bill Alabaster. . .
Robert told Red Cross staff that he had spent a leave with Alabaster and knew his people in Forest Gate (Red Cross wounded and missing roll, AWM: 1DRL/0428).

A photographer took a series of pictures. . .
The photographs were taken at Meteren on 6 March 1918. See AWM: E01790 and E01791.

On 5 April he was hit by a shell. . .
See Red Cross wounded and missing roll, AWM: 1DRL/0428.

the Grand Theatre. . .
They performed at the Grand Theatre du Havre on 15 and 16 August 1918. See AWM: PUBS002/004/001/001/015.

granted special leave. . .
See NAA: C137/ R30557.

He and the other soldiers were greeted. . .
See
Sydney Morning Herald
, 30 December 1918.

Of the 32,000 men. . .
See Anthony MacDougall,
ANZACs: Australians At War
(1991).

EPILOGUE: ANOTHER BOY

‘
the air was electrical
'
. . .
See Morrison,
Tales of Mean Streets
. ‘Several large and successful movements had quickened a spirit of restlessness in the neighbourhood,' he writes, ‘and no master was sure of his men.'

‘
a stirring and an agitation. . .
' From Masterman,
The Heart of Empire
.

it has remained a very rare crime. . .
See C. M. Green, ‘Matricide by Sons',
Medicine, Science and
the Law,
21 (1981); and Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Crime in the United States
(1998).

281–2
Adolescent boys who kill their mothers. . .
See Kathleen M. Heide and Autumn Frei, ‘Matricide: a Critique of the Literature' in
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse II
(2010); Kathleen M. Heide,
Understanding Parricide: When Sons and Daughters Kill Parents
(2012); B. F. Corder, B. C. Ball, T. M. Haizlip, R. Rollins and R. Beaumont, ‘Adolescent Parricide: A Comparison with Other Adolescent Murder',
American Journal of Psychiatry,
133 (1976); K. M. Heide,
Why Kids Kill Parents: Child Abuse and Adolescent Homicide
(1992); D. J. Scherl and J. E. Mack, ‘A Study of Adolescent Matricide',
Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychology,
5 (1966); D. H. Russell, ‘A Study of Juvenile Murderers of Family Members',
International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology,
28 (1984); Frederic Wertham,
Dark Legend: a Study in Murder
(1941); E. Tanay, ‘Adolescents who Kill Parents: Reactive parricide',
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry,
7 (1973).