Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"MILITARY HONORS. ANOTHER D.C.M.

Word was recently received in Adelaide that Lieutenant Hugh Garland, an Adelaide journalist who enlisted in the A.I.F., has been awarded the D.C.M." - from the Adelaide Chronicle 11 Nov 1916 (nla.gov.au)

"A SOLDIER PRESSMAN

Late Lieut. H. G. Garland, D.C.M. Adelaide pressmen learned with deep sorrow on Tuesday afternoon of the death on the western front on May 3 of Lieut. H. G. Garland, D.C.M., whose sterling character, no less than his marked journalistic ability and promise of a brilliant literary career, had won for him the highest esteem of his old colleagues on The Register and its associated journals, and the reporting staffs of the other Adelaide newspapers. He was the fifth member of The Register literary staff to make the supreme sacrifice; the others were Sgt. W. F. H. Lodge, Sgt. A. A. Jacobs, Pte. R. H. Knowles, and Sgnlr. W. S. Steer. Lieut. Garland was a son of the late Mr. Hugh Arbuthnot Garland, who died suddenly at Port Adelaide on Christmas Eve, 1916, and was about 24 years of age. He received his early journalistic training in The Register branch office at Port Adelaide. His keenness and ability won for him rapid promotion. He was associated with the Adelaide staff when with Lieut. T. J. Brown (who has since returned to Australia) he resigned in May, 1915, and left for Egypt as a sergeant with reinforcements for the 16th Battalion. He saw active service on Gallipoli, and was present at the evacuation. Following the usual custom, he had upon arrival with the reinforcements been, reduced again to the status of private, but before the troops embarked for France he had risen to the position of company sergeant-major, and while acting in that capacity during the heavy fighting at Pozieres on August 7, 1916, he displayed the conspicuous gallantry which won for him the double honour of a Distinguished Conduct Medal and a commission as lieutenant. There was a singularly sad circumstance connected with that fighting; Lieut. Garland had gone into camp at the same time as Lieut. ''Ross" Law, of The Daily Herald staff. The former left for the front a few weeks before Garland, and when next they saw each other it was during the German 'strafe' on the Pozieres Ridge. Law lost his life in that section of the west front, and Garland was wounded in one hand and the neck, and had a piece of shrapnel in his lungs. Notwithstanding these wounds he stuck to the trench, helped to clear it of the enemy, and then assisted to dig out men who had been buried by the falling trenches. He was invalided to England, and upon his recovery returned to the front, and saw further service, in France and Belgium. Last year he was granted special leave to visit his mother, who was seriously ill, but left again for France in November last because he considered that it was the duty of every man who could do so to take up arms in his country's defence. By a sad coincidence the death of Mrs. Garland was recorded on May 6, three days after that other son. While at the front, and also during his short visit to Adelaide that year, Lieut. Garland contributed to The Register several graphic special articles dealing with various phases of the war; poems by him appeared in 'The Anzac Book,' and when he left the State he was arranging for the publication, of a book of war sketches. — A. Pressman's Tribute - 'Than Hughie Garland' (writes a press man who was associated with him from the beginning of his journalistic career) 'there was not a straighter, whiter, or more beloved man in the South Australian profession. He cut short an assured future to don khaki because he regarded it as the duty of every one physically able to do so to take up arms in a righteous cause. Love of adventure there may have been; but honour and glory in modern warfare had a different meaning to him from that accepted by one less well read. He knew it was the other man's life or his; and he was game to make the sacrifice. He realized the remote chance he had of re turning to Australia after his first experiences at the front; but he did not falter. Loud and long were his declamations on account of the apparent apathy of so many young Australians in relation to the war; and his powerful appeals for recruits were uttered from recruiting platforms during his last short leave. There was, however, more than precept with him. He went away with the full conviction that he would not come back. The first time it was 'Au revoir! I will see you again;' on the second occasion it was 'Good-bye, old man; I know what I am going back to!' And his foreboding has come true!' He, has 'gone west,' but he has left behind him a noble example of self-sacrificing devotion to duty, which reflected honour alike upon him and his profession." - from the Adelaide Regsiter 15 May 1918 (nla.gov.au)

"WAR SKETCHES AND POEMS.

One of the features of the Violet Day celebrations will be the sale in aid of the funds of a shilling book, ''Vignettes of War,' containing articles and poems written by the late Lieut. Hugh G. Garland, D.C.M., who was formerly a promising Adelaide journalist. Lieut. Garland, who fought also on Gallipoli and in Egypt, was killed in France on May 3 last, and the sketches which he wrote for the daily press when he was on leave in Adelaide last year, under the title 'With the Boys Abroad,' letters from Gallipoli and France, and poems which he left behind in a manuscript volume have been gathered into an attractive illustrated book. A portrait of the author will accompany the volume. In addition to the shilling Violet Day publication special souvenir copies printed on art paper and handsomely bound are being prepared at cost price for friends who may care to have them in memory of a gallant and beloved soldier-journalist." - from the Adelaide Mail 15 Jun 1918 (nla.gov.au)