Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

OSWALD PAULL
MILITARY MEDAL

‘For over three months he frequently showed great coolness in mending telephone lines under fire at Cape Helles. During the period June 29th to July 5th 1915 it was mainly due to his efforts that communication was maintained with the front line.’

C.R.A 1st Aust Division 

Even though he was just 19 years of age, Oswald Paull stated on his ‘Attestment papers’ that he had served a 5-year apprenticeship at the Bendigo Pottery by the time he enlisted at Albert Park in August 1914. Just two months later he was sailing for war on the first flotilla carrying the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops.

After training in the desert camps of Egypt, Oswald would be assigned to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) on April 8, 1915 and landed with the 6th Battery Field Artillery on Gallipoli on Anzac day April 25. He survived the terrible fighting and sickness that assailed the Australian troops on Gallipoli and would leave with the formal evacuation in December 1915.

The Bendigo Advertiser reported in September 1915 the following: - Private O. Paull, late of Victoria-street, Eaglehawk, at present with the 6th Battery of the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade at Cape Helles, writes as follows: —

"We are getting pretty warm weather here at present, and the flies are worse than the Turks. What makes it worse is being in the trench and getting no breeze. We are not doing too bad so far. Last Monday we captured four trenches, and three weeks before that we got five more, but the Turks can fight. We are not with the Australians. We are with the English and French troops, about 10 miles from them. I have been taking photos with my camera ever since I have been here, so I have a very interesting collection. I just came from the front trench this week, after having a week up there. You cannot get a wash and take off your clothes. There are over a thousand dead Turks in front of the trench, so you can imagine the smell and the flies. It is grand to get a swim and a change. A Turkish officer came out of his trench with a white flag last week, and one of our officers went out to meet him. He wanted an armistice to bury the dead, but there has been so much trickery with the white flag that they wouldn't grant his request. It looked quite novel to see the two men (enemies) shake hands, and offer cigarettes between the trenches”.[1]

The Melbourne Herald updated the reader on Oswald’s war eighteen months later in March 1917: -

‘Early in the war Sergeant Oswald Paull, who has been awarded the Military Medal for bravery at Gallipoli, decided that his place was at the front. He is now 22 years of age, and is the son of Mr and Mrs John Paull, of 14 Collett street, Kensington. Sergeant Paull left Australia as a gunner attached to the first Australian division. On his way to the front the transport upon which he travelled sighted the Emden. He was in the landing at Galllpoli. Later he distinguished himself in the worst fighting at Ypres and on the Somme. Before leaving for the front Sergeant Paull was employed as a porter at Essendon and Moonee Ponds railway stations, but his ambition was to become a wireless operator, and in this department he was a promising student at Stott's College, Russell street, when he enlisted. Sergeant Paull has forwarded to his parents Interesting souvenirs of the battlefield, made by himself. They include ornamental knives, a swastika, and a map of Australia, all fashioned from German and Turkish shells’.[2]

Two weeks earlier, the Bendigoian Weekly advised the citizens of Bendigo and Eaglehawk of Oswald’s bravery: -

‘Word has been received that Sergeant Oswald Paull, of 14 Collett-street, Newmarket, and late of Eaglehawk has been awarded the Military Medal for bravery. He is still with the forces in France, and has another brother there also’.[3]

The final piece of news reported on Oswald appeared in the

Bendigonian in June 1918:- ‘Lieutenant Oswald Paull, of the Australian Flying Corps. and his English bride, Miss Rosie Hill, of Reading, England. Lieutenant Paull is a brother to Mrs. Richard Harris, of Job's Gully, and was born and brought up in that locality. Lieutenant Paull enlisted early in the war, and won the Military Medal at Gallipoli for bravery. He subsequently joined the Flying Corps, in which he has now gained a commission’. [4]

SERVICE DETAILS:

Regimental number: 1213

Place of birth: California Gully Victoria

Religion: Church of England

Occupation:Railway porter

Address: Victoria Street, Eaglehawk & Kensington, Melbourne.

Marital status: Single

Age at embarkation: 19

Next of kin: J Paull, 14 Collett Street, Newmarket, Victoria

Previous military service: 31st Battery Australian Field Artillery

Enlistment date: 17 August 1914

Rank on enlistment: Gunner

Unit name: Field Artillery Brigade 2, Battery 6

Embarked: HMAT A9 Shropshire on 20 October 1914

Final Rank: Lieutenant in Australian Flying Corps

Military Medal - Recommendation date: 9 June 1916

Fate: Returned to Australia 8 January 1919

Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 62

Date: 19 April 1917 on page 919 at position 156

Fighting at Cape Helles, Turkey – June 28 – July 5, 1916.

C.E.W Bean AIF Historian describes the plan of action for the Cape Helles attack: -

‘Their chances were good since the whole area was occupied by only three Turkish battalions, and the ANZAC attack would draw to itself most of the Turkish reserves. In order to attract these reserves towards the south and away from the north, a feint attack would be made by the British at Cape Helles; and the Australians at Anzac would size the now strong Turkish position at Lone Pine , on the southern and bigger half of the 400 Plateau’.[5]

 [1] Bendigo Advertiser Tue 7 Sep 1915. Page 5  LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.

[2] Herald Thu 15 Mar 1917. Page 1  HONOR WON ON
[3] Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918)  Thu 1 Mar 1917  Page 11  LOCAL NEWS.
[4] Bendigoian Thu 20 Jun 1918  Page 15 

AN ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN WEDDING. ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN WEDDING.
[5] Anzac to Amiens, C.E.W Bean, Penguin Books. P. 141