Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Francis John Phillip Lundie
Francis (Frank) was the son of well-known Labor member, Francis Walter Lundie, who served on the Port Adelaide City Council. Frank was one of 12 children, seven girls and five boys from his father’s two marriages. It appears he was born in Port Adelaide on the 21st August 1899. Motivated either for adventure or to do his duty, 17-year-old Frank Lundie added three years to his age claiming his birth year was 1896 and he was therefore 21 years old when he enlisted to serve in the First World War. Measuring 6 feet tall, this was not questioned. He travelled to the Middle East with the 9th Light Horse Regiment as Number 3606. Frank’s service could be described as ‘colourful’ with on-going bouts of illness including malaria, diarrhoea, tonsillitis and a disregard for orders, shown by going AWOL and using subordinate language to his superiors. His age discrepancy was discovered in August 1918 where he was adjudged as being unfit for active service but fit for other service. He was finally discharged in September, 1919.
His service and that of his compatriots obviously had a lasting influence on Frank. As a poet, he wrote about his experiences and respect for those who continued to remember and those who returned, honouring the men who did not return.
'ANZAC PARADE
To the Stalwarts of World War I
Time has not yet stayed your marching feet,
Tho' years have come and gone;
Swinging steadily down the street
Your thinning ranks move on.
You leave the plough, the axe, the pen,
These things are laid aside,
Down through the years you march again
With phantom feet beside.
Brave memories marching hand in hand,
The years between grow dim,
From Flanders' field and desert sand,
Your memory calls to him;
From frowning Anzac height and bay,
From out the ageless past,
He comes to you in bright array
Before the shrine, at last.
His questioning eyes are asking this;
Have you done as he would do?
Have you carried on as he would wish?
Have you been loyal and true?
Then you can hold your head up high
And meet him without shame.
Or face him squarely eye to eye
And know you've played the game.
1945.'
Despite or because of his experience in the Great War, Frank enlisted to serve in the Second World War. By this stage he was 43 but this time he removed a year from his age to become 39 years old. This time, SX4083, Private Lundie served in Papua New Guinea and Borneo. A colorful character, Frank’s promotions and demotions yo-yoed based on his propensity to challenge his superiors. His final rank on discharge was as Lance Sergeant. Inevitably, Frank’s health challenges included an umbilical hernia, and the inevitable malaria. Throughout, Frank continued to use poetry to honour those with whom he served. The Murray Pioneer newspaper published his tribute to the 2/27th Battalion, 7th Division, following their march in Brisbane in 1944.
'MARCH OF THE SEVENTH
A ribbon of green 'neath an azure sky,
As the men in their jungle suite march by!
But I see them again in the mountain heights,
In the tawny kunai's treacherous light.
I see them splashed with rain and mud,
Broken bodies and guns and blood -
Ever advancing, gaunt and lean
An endless column of jungle green.
And, too I see as they march along,
In the faded green, a ghostly throng.
I hear the sound of their phantom feet
Silently pacing the sun-lit street
For them the cheers and waving flags
In their darkened valleys and mountain crags.
My heart is filled with pride and pain
For the deathless band who march again,
And who shall stay their fateful stride,
Can stay the flood of the flowing tide!
Their guns are broken, their deeds are done
But their standard is raised 'neath a southern sun,
Onward and upward 'tis borne along!
Mine ears are filled with their silent song,
And I look to hear through the years ahead
The triumphant tramp of our marching dead!'
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes, SX8133