Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Graydon Verner Trotter was born at Glenthorne. A dot on the map near Taree, New South Wales. Volunteering for both World Wars he was an ANZAC and a Rat of Tobruk.
His life was rich and poor, wondrous and painful, joyful and tragic.
This is one of his stories.

The Red Cross Comfort Parcel

(If you don't know what a Red Cross comfort parcel was, here is a brief explanation. People all over Australia, the vast majority being women, donated goods and their time to the Red Cross so they could distribute a taste of home to our troops abroad. By 1916 the task became so enormous that a national body, the Australian Comforts Fund was formed. Biscuits and puddings, clothing and knitted items, reading material and letters of encouragement were packaged and sent to the war zones in the hundreds of thousands.)

Graydon grew up on his parents farm at Wingham on the Manning River upstream from Taree. The next farm downstream was run by the Pankhursts. One of their boys, William Manning Pankhurst was the same age as Graydon. They'd ride down to the jetty, smack their horses on the rump to send them home and catch the ferry to school. Cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter. Life was good. Bill and Vern. Inseparable mates.
Then the war came.
On the 3rd of May 1916 Graydon embarked on the HMAT Clan McGillivray (A46) for Alexandria as a member of the 1st Pioneer Battalion. He was 19.
In Alexandria he was transferred to the 5th Battalion as they were in need of reinforcements. Both battalions were soon sent to the western front and the battle of the Somme.
Three months in and Graydon was wounded, taking shrapnel to his right thigh. Despite the care of the Ontario field hospital infection set in and he had to be hospitalised in England. He missed five months action.
Returning to the front the Germans were now in retreat but anything to do with this conflict happened at a snails pace. After more than a year of battle and rest he again fell ill but kept it to himself until it was almost too late. Old wounds became severely infected and abscesses formed in his groin and right leg. Extremely sick he was to spend five weeks in the 3rd western general hospital outside Cardiff in Wales.
Nearing the end of his convalescence hospital orderlies moved through the wards handing out Red Cross parcels. Armistice had just been announced. A time for rejoicing but the orderlies were stopped in their tracks as a cry rang out. Looking back they saw Graydon, his face a scene of bewilderment. A pair of knitted socks lying on his chest. His outstretched hand holding a note. The note read.

Taree Red Cross
May these socks bring comfort to the wearer, made by a mother who has just lost her one dear boy in France (July 14th). God bless you and may he spare you to come home to those who love you.
Mrs F E Pankhurst
Wellesley Taree Estate
Manning W 10/9/17


Graydon carried the note with him through the next world war and for the rest of his life. It was one of his greatest treasures.
Because of the random distribution of comfort parcels and hence the extraordinary coincidence the note was used as an exhibit on the 50th anniversary of the Red Cross in Australia.
The note is now in the possession of Cynthia May Evans, nee Trotter, the sole surviving of Graydon's six children. Born 13/05/1925 at Glenthorne.
Written by Scott Evans as told to him by his Mum. 25/04/2017.