Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Horses were very much a part of Lance's life from a very young age.
When he was 11, he taught a foal to lead and tie up and the event
was recorded in The Advertiser.
In 1936, he rode in the State Centenary procession.
Lance left school at 14, first working around Snowtown before building
warships in Whyalla. He enlisted for World War II in November, 1943,
and ended his training at the Cowra prisoner of war camp in NSW's
Central West region.
Lance had never talked about the Cowra breakout, which was the
subject of a TV miniseries in 1984.
But when one of his daughters was travelling that way, he said she
might see his name on the memorial arch.
Cowra held mostly Japanese and Italian prisoners, and Lance helped
with the round-up of prisoners in the early hours of the morning on
August 5, 1944.
Lance - who was only 18 - told of the devastation as many of the
545 escapees chose to take their own lives rather than be recaptured.
During the escape and the subsequent round-up of POWs, four Australian
soldiers and 231 Japanese soldiers died and 108 prisoners were wounded.
While in the army, Lance met Beryl, a corporal and cook. They married
less than three weeks after they met, and that was because they had to
wait for Lance's parents' permission because he was underage.
After the war, Lance worked around Snowtown and kept cows and pigs
on the farm where they lived.
His love of horses was undiminished and he staged polo cross and
gymkhanas on the farm.
He helped start up the SA Light Horse Historical Association and took
part in many processions around the state, as well as being a horseriding
extra in locally made movies such as Breaker Morant, Gallipoli
and The Light Horsemen.
After a fall in 2007, Lance moved to Port Broughton to live with one
of his daughters.
In the Port Broughton ANZAC parade, he rode a red gopher and
wore his Light Horse uniform.