Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Oscar Mead was my grandfather who was a stretcher bearer in the 1st Light Horse in Palestine in WW1. He had a hear condition which prevented him from enlisting in the regular army, but made his contribution by helping take care of the injured and dying. He was a lovely man who suffered greatly from what we now know as PTSD and couldn't talk about his experiences in the war. He died from his heart condition in the early 1960s. My grandmother was an army nurse who also died a few years later. My father, Albert Mead, served in England in WW2 in the RAAF. He was a rear gunner in a Sunderland flying boat in 10 Squadron - Coastal Command. He died of the same heart condition as my grandfather in 1975.