Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3278772

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Our Boys at the Front.

"THE ROLL OF HONOUR."

John Buckley, Llewellyn Selwyn Downing, Walter Styles, Vernon C.

Lanyon.

THE WAR HEROES."

We met them everywhere, and never

dreamed

.We walked and talked with herpes by,

by, the way:

"No, heroes in our age" we liked1 to

say;

Just common men, with common ais,

they4 seemed;

Living their lotted span, who toiled

and schemed,

Despaired and hoped, with here

and there a ra^

Or some diviner sense that bade

us stay, r i Or flash of lovelight that about them

gleamed. > 13 ut whlen it came, the great suprejner

test ,, Of manhood's best and' bravest; at

the call

For country, home and life, God's

promised years;

I hey stood unflinchingly, smiled at

Death's request,

Wrenched l,o,ve atyay, waved cheer, and

w ¡hope to, alj,

And fell, engulfed in glory, and pur

tears.

' (Emma P. Seabury in "New Yprk .Times.")

Thb Territory cannot but be proud of its men who have responded to the "Call for country, home and Ufe," and while the names of those who have

fdlien are written on the imperishable scroll of Immortality, it yet remains that some memorial shall be raised to their treasured memory in Darwin» In due course a worthy tribute must be given in brass or stone on which the names of the fallen heroes shall be .engraved) and. ¡pn which pnce yearly; perhaps on Anzac Day, their comrades* citizens, and those who follow shall honor the memory of the brave who fell in the Great War. Then, too, a tablet must be raised! for all who saw active ^service. We owe this to the men who offered their lives for our liberties, our homes and our dear ones, and it is the least we can do. While the present calls for pur utmost effort in carrying the war to a suc- cessful conclusion, perhaps some means may be found quietly and steadily to establish a fund for this memorial.

' From time to time rumors have reached1 Darwin of the death« of Ter- ritory, boys which have liappily proved untrue. In order, however, that the "Roll of Honor" may be complete, Mr. Walter Bell would! thank readers to send any information forward with a view to correcting or completing the

list. i C x\

The "Montoro" took away a vfinp .contingent, particularly of Pine Creek boys, and included in the names aie thos,e of several well-known identities., "Sandy" Anderson, "Reggie" Jones*

Ernie Stephens, Frank O'Keefe, Alf. .. O'Neill, PhÜi Martin, are all very familiar names andl their doings will be watched; with interest. Alf. O'Neill offered at the beginning of the war, but was rejected! on account of teeth. He had! the teeth trouble remedied and offered! again only to be turned down for some, other slight defect. He tried1 a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth, ¡only to be rejected each time. Each refusal greatly depressed him; ,but seeing the boys going by the "Montoro" h¡e tried! yet once again, and ther^ixth time¡ he was accepted. He is probably, the happiest man in tihe party. Men of the calibre 'of O'Neill should shame every slacker in the N.T." to drop his feeble excuses

(indi (enlist at once). The full list |of the

contingent is as follows:

Alex. Andersen, W. J. Blaylock, M'. Bruton, P. H. Dawe, R. A. Jones, B. Lofgrew, Phil Martin, M. Molloy, F. O'Keefe, Alf. O'Neill, J. M. Pat- terson, J. W. Powejl, T. B/Rogers,

"* ' ? ? ; ' " t ' - J I ? l-l

A. RobD, £. S. Stephens.

Jjt iOL.e McDon^fdi writes from

"ügypt somewhere' to uie Adiuiiu:» trator, under dale, February ist, ¿.Lu- ting- 'i am still in gopu health aud upi io the present can t say, i am a wqumied soldier. I saw most ot the '¡officiai' N.T. wontingeiU a tew days ago, an,d¡ 1 waa with jim Cain «it lae time, una i can tell yc[U when we un go; together and started talking aoout the N.T. it was like a blackieilowb' corroDoree. Ali oi mein aie well

except poor muckley (who enlisted with me¿. He waa *.iii«¡d uy a 75m.

shell on the Perunsuia. 1 ueard also that Lanyon died from wounds re- ceived on the Peiuubiua, but' 1 can l .ay ii it is ftrue (or not. ' ' he (McDon- ald} says water is acarre where lie is }camped1 and he trembles to. relied, how long it will be before he gets a wash unless he has a sand bath, as the birds do. He, continues-"i hope the beer strike is over at Darwin by idus. We have been so long now without beer that i think it the Rech abites came here they, would get a lot ot Supporters." And he asks to be -remembered tq all his friends in Darwin. Mac's address is now No.

2178 J. McDonald1,. Pioneers, 9th Battalion, 3rd .Infantry, Brigade, A. I.F., Egypt pr Elsewhere.

Mac..füso, wrpte to Mr. k r,ed) thomp- son under date Feoruary 3rd. tie ihgn baia-"we, are expccnug to get a bit ot a go about the buez Canal shortly but ot course we, may, be dis- appointed." Speaking oi Anzac he says-"1 had sixteen weeks altogether .over, there and l need not vteli you it was no picnic by any means." He also, wrote that he iiad¡ received a very nice letter from the Administra- tor, who nad told lum about the beer

strike.

tiarry Dowsett was alive ana -well on 21st January.

A Darwin young lady who sent a billycan M» received; the following by, postcard-"Received billy (all in- tact. Thanks awfully. It was very kindj pi you all to think of us. It made our Xmas very enjoyable. I wish I was able., to send you some little memento, in exchange. May be able tp after we get back to civiliza-

tion."

C. E. F. Allen writes to a i rien d

from the No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital, Cairo, on 3rd February, '1916. ile then hoped; to leave hospital and get back to his battalion within a lew days, and to receive his commission, unless, as he says, he had1 been super- seded because of his sickness. He says-"I still feel that if I can arrive at the end! of the wai* with la. medal and) a /whoje skin I shall count myself lucky. The long rest which I have had since Dec. 19 has benefitted me enormously, but of course dysentery does knock one about a lot anjJ' Í had a bad! time. . . . This land (Egypt) is full of soldiers, but its worth' keep- ing; a good country with unbounded resources of wealth, its agriculture, great labor supplies, and grand cli- mate. . . . Did ypu get some grass seeds from the HorticuUiral Gardens here some months ago-Soud|ah grass? Its a grand! grass and if it can be established in Darwin would be of grçajt value, as a winter grass. I was visiting the, Director of Horticulture he/e, the day. before yesterday, and talking to him made me long to be back, at my business, away from this d'-d soldiering. I would far rather be the Curator than a full blown Colonel any 'day. However, while I am in it I am going ,to djo my di-dest to do it well and so come out of ">t well, Whether it is whole or in pieces. . . . The N.T. has pro vidjed! a good ratio of soldiers consid- ering her population."

Mr. Allen's present address is Pte. C. E. F. Allen, 1033 F^ Co., 25th A.I.F., Egypt/

Sidney Lauder, from. Nefiche, Egypt, February 3rd!, gives a most

interesting account of his experiences trom November ,4, when he left Cairo ior Gallipoli to djate of his letter. They travelled in ,the "Minnewaska," an 1 £5,000 ton troopship to .Lemnos, from whence after' tour days they, mjo/redj to, Anzac. His first) experiences under fire are described. He says ."I could feeil a lump xa. my throat," i»ut It sc^C|x went, ami M a t¿(w da^¡s he became accustomed to being under fire of all .descriptions. ihe work of preparing his dugout (uud digging trenches at .first was very hard on hands and body, HIS Hands were badly skinned and blistered with, the toil which (was enlivened by Turkish 8 ,inch shells, machine gun and! title fire. He had; one narrow escape when an 8 inch shell missed his head by about a foot. and landed three feet 'only trom where he was. working. The cold was at times intense and hfQ saw bnow tor the first time, "i nad my first experience of snow on the 26th November. 1 was on guard when,.« started to, snow. 1, could not make it out for a minute. My rifle was covered and my hat. But my poor 'old,1 feet felt it. They were quite dead for about a week." After describing a very vigorous action on ,the 2boil »November, when the bullets were hit- ting the sides of the trenches like rain, he .concludes-"! was on the Peninsula~for nearly five weeks up to the evacuation which was so easily

Idjpng/blU 1 aim not allowed to mention

how it was dpne."

"Anzac Day ' falls on Easter Tues- day. A year will then have passed ^since Australia received her baptism of Blood1. On. that day throughout Australia and, the Empire worshippers will kneel in thanksgiving to the Al- mighty that in the time of trying, our me/i (Were not found] wanting, and a tribute will be paid! lo, the memory of the 20,000 Australians and New Zea landprs who made the Supreme Sacri- fice tor all that the, Nation hold's most dear. At Christchurch, Darwin, a servie© will be^heldl in the morning. On, that djayi Darwin will pay its loving tribute to the Territory boys who have died, return thanks for those who sur Vivgj and pray tor the early and com- plete success of our Army. In Rustra lía generally there will be other cele- brations pf the great day to follow the Church Services. What is being done by, pur City Fathers in the

matter?

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