Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eric’s father, John was English born and came to Australia with his parents, who were pioneer settlers in the Mount Compass area, when there were few, if any comforts, and all necessary supplies were carried in on horseback. John met his wife Edith Annie, a local of the Willunga area where the two settled. Over the ensuing years John and Edith had ten children. Eric, born in Willunga on the 23rd March, 1905, was the fourth child and third of six brothers, Arthur John, Roy Jeffry, Geoffrey, Keith Kelvin, Reginald George (George). He had four sisters, Doreen Drucilla, Elma Jaffrey, Beatrice Alice (Betty) and Joan.
John, his father George and the extended Waye family who were blacksmiths, wheelwrights and labourers were part of an historic poll that won a landslide victory to construct a railway on the guaranteed principle from Adelaide to Willunga, with 113 votes in favour and none against it, resulting in the project being carried by the statutory majority. The line was opened in January 1915. (Unfortunately, perhaps short-sightedly, it was later closed at Hallett Cove in ’69.)
The Waye family gained a reputation for their farming skills, regularly winning competitions in the surrounding areas at local Shows, including Mount Compass, for their potatoes, vegetable collection and poultry. John and Edith remained in the Mount Compass area for most of their lives and were also buried in the local cemetery, John at age 77 and Edith 83. The children attended the local Willunga School with two of Merv’s brothers, Arthur and Reginald, joining the police force afterwards. Merv gained work as a farm and general labourer.
Merv was 20 when his grandparents, George and Mary, celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary in June ’25 in the local Mount Compass School Hall. The impressive family line included seven children, of whom five were surviving, 37 grandchildren, including the ten from Merv’s siblings and 16 great-grandchildren. The children were Mr. Herbert Waye (Mount Compass), Mr. John (Victor Harbour), James S. (Myponga), Mrs. Charlesworth (of North Adelaide), Mr. Samuel (absent), and Mr. Albert (of Mount Compass) and Will Waye. Ironically George attributed his longevity to smoking and part of the presentation was a gift of tobacco!
As a 23-year-old, with memories of WWI still fresh, Merv attended a Carnation Dance at the McLaren Flat Hall for a local young woman in her quest to raise funds in the ‘Queen of Carnations’ to raise funds for the Hall. A brass band provided the dance music, with competitions and supper filling the evening.
With the outbreak of WWII, a huge recruitment drive was conducted in country areas, including Victor Harbour. Merv’s brother, 26-year-old Geoffrey was the first in the family to enlist. He had previously served in the 18th Light Horse Machine Gun Regiment before enlisting in June ’40, as SX5740 in the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion. Eric, (known as Mervyn, or Merv) enlisted the following year as a mature aged, single man of 36 on the 17th July ‘41. He had also previously served in the militia as S9606 in the 18th Regiment since January the previous year. He was allocated the number SX13755 in the 2/48th battalion.
Following preliminary training, Merv embarked to join the remainder of that battalion serving in the Middle East as reinforcement arriving in October, 41. Almost immediately he was placed in the 9th Infantry Special Group. However, in the sandy, desert conditions Merv contracted bronchitis and then asthma, which continued to plague him.
A year after arriving, Merv was wounded in action with multiple injuries from gunshot and shrapnel wounds to his left lower thigh, left upper forearm, right cheek, and his lower back at the end of October. He was fortunate to survive. At the time, his battalion had seized Trig 29, a key location in the Battle of El Alamein. John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan painted an image of those days. ‘The troops had never been more tired. Yet, notwithstanding the fact that they had not slept for three nights, all were grimly determined to put everything they had into the fight to hold what had been won. Their spirits were high. All-round teamwork, cooperation, and an eagerness to be dug in by dawn caused every man, irrespective of rank or his particular task, to throw his whole weight behind the battalion.’ Heavy fighting helped capture this feature, but the challenge was in ‘digging in’ to the rocky ground. Glenn added ‘The 2/48th had stirred up a real hornet’s nest; from first light until nine o’clock, the enemy turned all their fury on the Trig area, with particularly heavy fire on 29 itself, hiding the position in dust and smoke.’
Glenn added of the survivors ‘They were the unsmiling eyes of men who have killed or tried to kill and have faced death in its most vicious forms. Theirs was the pride and sorrow of men who have endured too much. When all else was forgotten, they would remember Alamein and their mates who died there…. They had lived a lifetime in one night.’
The Chronicle at a similar time painted a raw image of the extensive effects on the 2/48th Battalion. Killed in action were SX8468 Pte. Patrick H. Hoare, North Broken Hill (NSW); SX13570 Pte. Charles Holman, Broken Hill; SX7771 Pte. Henry O. Lohmann, Murray Bridge; SX6848 Cpt. Alfred F. Meyer. Renmark: SX3149 Col. Arthur H. Peters, Macclesfield; . SX11768 Pte. John R. Smith, Wardang Island; SX13535 Pte. Allan L. Thessinger, Jamestown. Died Of Wounds SX7917 Pte. Leslie A. King, Adelaide. Wounded In Action.— SX7830 Cpl. Kingsley G. Albrecht, Kingston-on-Murray: SX10571 Pte. William G. F. Barnett, Reedy Creek : SX8128 Pte.- Ivan G. Braidwood, Adelaide; SX8749 Pte. K. W. Dack, Med., Clare; SX7559 Pte, Maxwell. C. Fuss, Kimba; SX13602 Pte. George H. G. Gallagher. Paulco Station; SX12854 Pte. Sydney V. Goodes. Curramulka; SX8483 Pte. William T. Harris, Caltowie; SX10527 A-Cpl. Harold E. Hobbs, St. Peter; SX8497 Pte. Charles H. Lawrie, Naracoorte; SX7959 Pte. Edward Lehmann, Lameroo; SX7028 Pte. Murray V. McFarlane, Cobdogla; SX7721 A-Cpl. Hedley H. Pratt, Korunye; SX7244 Pte. Richard Ramsdale, Meadows; SX11154 Pte. R. F. Reed, Cummins; SX11152 Pte William Reed, Cummins; SX8366 S-Sgt. William W. Statton, Alberton; SX7933 Cpl. Walter H. Stewien, Verdun; SX8576 Pte Arnold R. Thomas, Campbelltown; SX11289 Pte. Keith W. Tilmouth, Cleve; SX7278 pte. Robert Tipper, Berri; SX13755 Pte. Eric M. Waye, Victor Harbor; SX7212 Pte. T. L. Woodall Exeter; SX10514 Pte. Allan. W. Wylie Sefton Park.
For over a month Merv received treatment in hospital before re-joining his battalion in mid-December ‘42. By the start of February, he was on the way back to Australia via Melbourne and thence to leave back home. At that stage, Geoffrey had been discharged and returned to farming and being quarryman.
Training in Queensland followed for Merv, with the men preparing to face a very different enemy in the tropical conditions of New Guinea. He arrived in Milne Bay early in August ’43, returning to Brisbane six months later to be treated for malaria. He continued to be affected by this disease and a high fever (pyrexia of unknown origin) causing him to be hospitalised several times over the following year. Despite being medically assessed for ‘Constitutional Insufficiency’ and receiving a recommendation that he return to his pre-war industry, Merv continued to serve in the army.
Merv was discharged in January ’46 aged 40. Five years later his medals, the Africa Star, African Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal and Australian Service Medal, according to his record, were posted to him. Ironically both brothers who served faced very different challenges in peacetime. Geoffrey escaped serious personal injury when a neighbour’s bull unexpectedly jumped a fence and collided with his old model sedan, striking the bull broadside in November ‘52. Whilst the car was extensively damaged, reports were that the bull was uninjured.
Despite his war injuries, Merv worked for the Highways Department. He was also an active supporter of his local community with donations towards the South Coast District Hospital and the Anzac Remembrance Appeal through the Victor Harbour R.S.L. sub-branch.
For Merv, having survived the war, the deprivations, the loss of so many good friends and his own injuries, it was horrific that in peacetime he was killed in a totally avoidable accident. Aged 62, Merv was killed at Victor Harbour on the 17th November ’67. The Victor Harbor Times reported the circumstances. ‘A 62-year-old man employed by the Highways Department received fatal injuries when he was struck by a car near Port Elliot last Friday afternoon. He was Eric Mervyn Waye, ganger, of Acraman Street, Victor Harbour. The gang with which he had been working was packing its gear into a truck when the accident occurred. Mr. Waye is believed to have been standing by the truck when, he was hit by the car which was travelling towards Goolwa. He was taken to the South Coast District Hospital by an ambulance from Victor Harbour but was dead on arrival. Senior Constable C. P. May, of Port Elliot, and First-Class D. J. Quinn, of Victor Harbour, are preparing a report for the coroner, Mr. H. J. Graham. The late Mr. Waye served in the Middle East and New Guinea with the 2nd 48th Battalion during World War II. His remains were laid to rest after a service at the W. A. Norman Chapel, Centennial Park Crematorium, on Monday.’
Immediately following Merv’s death, Merv’s youngest brother, Reginald applied for a medal that the family believed was missing. Reg was keen for Merv’s service to continue to be remembered by his own family. Two years after Merv’s death, his brother, Geoffrey, who had also served in the War died on the 17th February ’69. He also is remembered at Centennial Park.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.