Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward (Dad) earned his nickname of Foxy because of the scrapes he got into and out of without being penalised, where someone else would have been charged with the offence.

He had three stirpes which when I queried what they were for he said "undetected crime". I remember saying 'Wow that's good not doing any crimes' He responded with ' It didn't mean that I did not commit a crime just that I didn't get caught"

He enlistd a week after war started at the age of 16 and a half years and by December he was in Alexandria. On his 17th birthday in March 1940 his ship was in the Mediterranean and out of ammunition and under attack from 6 German bomders. Bad luck on the German's part and the arrival of the RAF saved them.

He was in the Battle of Matapan and the Evacuation of Greece abd the Battle for Crete. It was during the Battle of Matapan he was serving on a Britsh destroyer because his own ship was in dry dock. The Britsh destoryer was sunk and soon after he was picked up by another British ship, either Greyhound or Griffin he could not remeber which but it made no difference because soon after it too was sunk. This time he was in the sea for hours before being rescued again the 'name of the ship wasn't important' because it too was sunk early the next morning. He and several other drifted in the lifeboat for 5-7 days before being found.

Back on his own ship HMAS Vampire and in company with HMAS Waterhen they were doing whatever destroyers do in wartime when the came under attack from enemy bombers. Waterhen being the closer took full brunt of the attack. The enemy dropped so many bombs around Waterhen she completely disappered from Vampire's view, 'She's gone' Vampire's crew agreed to a man but a few seconds later Waterhen appeared from behind the wall of wall still at full speed and not a mark on her.

Vampire signalled to Waterhen ' Glad you are alright. We thought your were gone'

Waterhen replied ' You should have seen it from our side"

Back in harbour my father was talking to his friend from Waterhen about the incident. HIs friend comment that ' there was so much water on Waterhen it was impossible to tell where Waterhen stopped and the sea started and when she had shed all the excess water the Old Girl leapt up a foot'

Those stories are the tip of the iceberg they are many similar tales to go eith them.

After the war Dad joined the Police Force where he was on the Police motor bikes. He bulit a Defence home in Mitchell Street, East Glenelg, now known as Glengowrie. It was the only home on the street and apart from the racing stables alongside there were very few house until you got over what is now Oaklands Road.

In 1953 he moved to the Lower South East where he worked on South Killanoola Station while he was waiting for a Soldier Settlement property.

This property was in the Coles Spence and one of many in the area that the Government cleared, about 120,000 acres of scrub, for the Solider Settlers

The were no telephones, no houses, no electricity and no roads just tracks through the scrub. Dad and Mum lived in a galvanised iron shed as did many others. Having no roads in the summer wasn't too bad but in the winter it was impossible to drive so the vehicle was left on a road 3 miles away and they brought the groceries on to the property in a wheelbarrow.

It was while he was living he started to suffer severe stomach pains which lasted for almost ten years. The Pyschiatrists told him it was due to 'war neuoris'. Eventually he had one of these attacks while in hospital and was operated on immediately. The 'war neurosis' turned out to be a stomach tumour the size of a walnut. While recovering from the operation he suffered from golden Staf followed by a massive heart after which he was given the last rites.

He continued through the remainder with of his life with no more evidence of the cancer, despite being continuely tested, until mid 1991  when it was discovered he had prostrate cancer. Further tests showed that it had gone to his bones and was given 6-12 months to live. He lasted 6 weeks.

Following his death he was cremated and his ashes placed in the RSL Walls at Centennial until his wife died in 2005 when they were removed and both sets of ashes were spread off Barcoo Road, West Beach. Barcoo Road was named after HMAS Barcoo which was beached after after a bad storm and Dad had also served on the HMAS Barcoo during his Naval carreer.

During WW2 Dad was in the R.A.N. and while he was serving in the Med mainly aboard HMAS Vampire during this period he was reported missing on two occasions. The first the family was well aware of but the second was not known as it was something he never talked about.

It was in the mid 1980s and I was at his place watching a program on resistance when he came home. He sat there watching it with me and when it was finished he commented that the program did not do the resistance justice and he went on to explain how well organised they were, the firearms etc that they had and the risks they took not to mention the danger to themselves and their families. So I asked him how did he know and he said that they had got him and a shipmate out of a tight spot’ so I asked him ‘how’

HMAS Vampire was sent to pick up an important chap/double agent/traitor and Dad was part of the party who went ashore. Things went wrong and Dad and his shipmate were separated from the others and were captured by a group of young enemy soldiers. They must have been held in a building of sorts because Dad kept mentioning a door, anyway the only word Dad and his mate could understand was ‘British’ followed by guns being pointed in their direction. Dad was about 18 his mate wasn’t much older but each time the young soldiers said British Dad’s mate said not British among a few other things.

After awhile the door opened and another young soldier entered accompanied by and an ‘old’ soldier (early 40s) this got the young group talking excitedly about their British prisoners which Dad’s mate protested about being called British.

They noticed that the old soldier was looking at them  in an odd way and then he held hand up and his young group fell quiet. He listened to Dad’s mate’s continued protest then to their surprise the old soldier said in good English ‘ you are not British you are Australian’. Dad’s mate said ‘of course we are Australians’ and the old soldier smiled and said ‘good soldiers the Australians’ he had been at Gallipoli.

He spoke to his young soldiers and Dad and his mate knew by their tone when they said Australian that they were more than aware of Gallipoli and the respect for the ANZACs. Things suddenly went from being shot to being fed. After awhile the old solder said it was time to go and when they reached the door he stopped and said to Dad and his mate ‘ from now on do not say a word if someone speaks to you do not answer.

The old soldier led them through the main body of soldiers and ammunition but apart from one or two saluting the old soldier nobody spoke to them. Eventually the old soldier stopped saying he could go no further he then told them to go ahead until they reached a town then angle across to another town where there was an allied port. Dad said if they went another way they would reach another allied port which was closer. The old soldier agreed but added  ‘don’t go there go the other way’

They parted company. Dad and his mate walked through the night till they came across a barn were they slept. They were woken early the next morning by artillery fire coming from the direction they were told ‘not to go’.

While standing there deciding their next move a young girl came into the barn, seeing them there she stopped in her tracks, they spoke to her but she didn’t understand just dropped what she was carrying then ran for the house.

They waited and it wasn’t long before the farmer appeared but he didn’t speak English. It wasn’t long before the girl reappeared this time with something to eat and drink. The farmer led them to a ladder where his hand signals said it all, up the ladder, to the back and be quiet.

Some hours later the ladder rattled and the farmer’s head appeared beckoning them to come down where there found another farmer who said ‘you come with me’. The first farmer gripped their hands in his nodding and smiling which they returned. Dad and his mate didn’t know it then but they were now in the hands of the resistance.

Dad said the planning and the way they shifted him and his mate through their oroganisation would rival some of the best military manoeuvrers. Eventually the resistance brought them to the allied port where they were several British naval ships.

The two of them approached a British destroyer where they told the guard who they were and what had happened but the guard would not let them on board. Dad and his mate had enough and it ended up in a loud argument which brought and second British sailor to the seen who commented that Dad and his mate were ‘uncouth enough to be Australian’. Dad hit one and his mate hit the other and they were taken on board and held under guard.

Eventually it came through that they were part of Vampire’s crew and they eventually rejoined her in Alexandria. The officer suggested that Dad and his mate should apologise to the two sailors they had hit. Dad said ‘no, he deserved it’ and his mate said that ‘he should have hit him harder’.

Dad often wondered if the old soldier had survived the war and hoped that he did.

After roughly three years in the Med Vampire head for home via the port of Durban. On arrival it was noticed the harbour was full of ships of varying sizes. Vampire was order to attach to a merchant ship which was loading stores from the wharf.

To get ashore Vampire's crew had to walk across the merchant ship's deck which wasn't issue except that on the deck was a pallet of beer. Next morning both Vampire and the beer were gone.