Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Ballarat & District in the Great War
 
The following letter written by (then) Private Reginald Marr, of Amherst, was sent to his mother under the date 14 September 1916…

‘…Just a few lines to let you know I am still well, and hope you all are the same. . . .

It seems wonderful to look back and think that we came through it all. . . .

I would like you to see this old place where we are stopping now. I got quite a surprise when I got up this morning and saw where we were. It was late when we arrived last night, and being a bit tired did not bother to look about much. We are in the grounds of a chateaux, or was before the war. It was a beautiful white building, but it is all in ruins now and all the buildings surrounding it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I got up this morning and wandered through the grounds; they are all grown over with weeds and rubbish now, and you can just see in odd places where the gardens have been, and right in the middle of it is a lake, with a boat and all on it, but of course it is out of use now.

It does seem a great pity to think that all the places are in ruins now. I suppose the people who own the chateaux little thought that it would be like what it is to-day. We have got trenches running right through it up to the front door, and we are living in dugouts.

This is only one of many places in a like position. Some of the villages we have been through—places like Maryborough and Talbot—are absolutely, blown away. You would hardly know they had ever been there. Then, again, in other towns, the beautiful churches and buildings that are in ruins! It makes one think a bit and look when going through a town and not see a living soul; no windows and great gaps every few steps. The streets are covered with bricks, etc. (the buildings were chiefly brick).

Then, again, there is the land, it is nothing but a network of trenches, barbed wire, and sandbags for miles and miles, and in places the ground is ploughed up by shells, etc. It often puts me in mind of the old diggings at home. . . .

Things seem to be going very well for a finish now—let us hope it will not be long; I can't see how it can possibly last much longer. It will be a great day when the end comes. I was just thinking how grand it will be to get back into civilian clothes again. . . . .Wont it be grand when we all get together again…’

Reg also included adapted words to a popular soldier’s lullaby, Sing Me to Sleep.

‘…Sing me to sleep where the bullets fall,
Let me forget this war and all;
Damp is my dug-out, cold are my feet,
Nothing but bully and biscuits to eat.
Sing me to sleep where the shells explode,
Shrapnel shells are sent by the load;
Over the sand bags Germans you'll find,
Dead 'uns in front and dead 'uns behind.

Chorus.

Far, far from Ypres I want to be,
Where German snipers can't snipe at me;
Picture me crouching where the worms creep,
Waiting for one shell to sing me to sleep.
Sing me to sleep in some old sheet,
Where the rats come crawling over my feet;
Stretched out in my old waterproof,
Dodging the rain drops through the roof.
Sing me to sleep where the camp fires glow,
Full of French bread and jam, what oh I
Wondering how long this old war will last.

Chorus.

Far, far from the star shells I long to be,
Those lights of Melbourne I'd rather see;
Think of me crouching where the worms creep,
Waiting for someone to sing me to sleep…’

Perhaps the saddest aspect of Reg's letter was the hopeful belief that the war would soon be over...
Reginald Marr was born at St Arnaud on 19 July 1893; he was the seventh of ten children born to Charles Marr and Maria Reeves. His ancestry was Anglo-Scots, with the Marr family hailing from Dundee in Scotland.
He grew up in Amherst, where he attended the local State School.

Although he officially enlisted at Melbourne on 3 July 1915, Reg’s medical was conducted days earlier at Talbot. The 22-year-old had been working with the Victorian Railways as an engine cleaner.

After successfully being accepted into the AIF, Reg was assigned to the 10th reinforcements for the 8th Infantry Battalion with the regimental number of 3119. He was later posted to D Company and would reach the rank of corporal, with a brief spell as temporary sergeant.

Reg fought through the 8th Battalion’s first major action on the Western Front – the Battle of Pozieres. The chateau he referred to in his letter was the Chateau Segard near Voormezeele in Belgium, where the 8th Battalion arrived late on 13 September.
On 20 September 1917, during the Battle of Menin Road, Reg suffered a gunshot wound to the scalp. Although he rejoined his unit on 10 October, it appears that ongoing issues reduced his effective capacity and he spent a significant part of 1918 in England on detachment.

When Reg returned to Australia on 10 September 1919, he was to be discharged as medically unfit due to the earlier head wound.

He married Beatrice Annie Gane at Amherst on 29 October 1924. They were to have four children – one girl and three boys.

Reg had successfully acquired a soldier settlement block at Lexton in 1922. He farmed in the district for a lengthy time, before moving to Irymple in the State’s north in 1931, where he continued to work as a horticulturalist.

During World War II, Reg was employed at the Commonwealth Munitions Factory. The family had moved to Coburg, where they lived for many years. Reg died at Fitzroy on 25 January 1965.