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He ‘light lamps by the Murray’

Serving Australia was a priority for the Murray River town of Mannum. It is believed that, per head of population, Mannum lost more men than any other South Australian town over the duration both World Wars. Robert Wundenberg was one of the ‘fortunate’ ones who returned. Australian Wendy Joseph wrote an evocative song, called ‘Year of the Drum’ which describes the tragic effects of the wars on subsequent generations living in Mannum and the lure of patriotic music to ‘entice young men to war’.

My name is Jack Gresham, I grew up in Mannum,
That river boat town I loved well,
I married Meg Davis, we had us two children,
One day our family bliss turned to Hell.
For in nineteen fourteen, 'twas the year of the drum,
The guns and the Government called me to come,
Past melaleuca and tall shining gums,
I drifted away down the Murray.

My name is Meg Davis and I work down at Shearers,
Making wagons and stirrups and hammers,
The war it is raging, the men are all fighting,
The women toil here making fuel for the flames.
For it's nineteen fifteen and the men have all gone,
They're fighting in Europe so we carry on,
We're keeping the candles lit bright here at home,
To light their way back up the Murray.

My name it is Mary and I am an orphan,
My father was killed in the war,
My mother Meg Davis, an upstanding lady,
She drowned in the Murray the year I turned four.
It was nineteen sixteen when the telegram came,
The death of her soldier its message proclaimed,
My Mum lost her footing due to tears and the rain,
She slipped on the banks of the Murray.

My name it is Billy and I am a soldier,
I just got my orders today,
My wife's name is Mary, she's as fair as a sunset,
I hate to be leaving her lonely this way.
But the year's forty two, 'tis the year of the drum,
The guns and the Government call me to come,
Past melaleuca and tall shining gums,
I'm drifting away down the Murray

But the year doesn't matter, there's always a drum,
The guns and the Governments call men to come,
But the town still grows strong in her tall shining sons,
While her daughters light lamps by the Murray.’

Robert was one of the many Mannum young men who heard the ‘call of the drum, the guns and the Government’. Times were tough through the 30’s which also probably encouraged Bob to enlist to serve in WWII. Born on the 24th August 1917, he enlisted just prior to his 23rd birthday becoming SX13641 in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion that would emerge as the most highly decorated but decimated group of men. Respected by other Battalions and also those with whom they fought, this group was part of the 9th Division which also came to be awarded a proudly worn unofficial title, the Rats of Tobruk.

Robert was the sixth of eight children born to Bertram and Jane (nee Hust), including two older sisters, Doris and Ethel, three older brothers, Albert, Harold and Ernest and two younger brothers, Kenneth and Maxwell. Kenneth, a dairy farmer, was to also serve in the Navy. In his father Bertram’s family, five of those brothers, including Bertram, served in WWI. Bertram became a Sergeant, following in his own father’s service as a Trooper in the Boer War. Bob was therefore to be the third generation who heeded the ‘call of the drum, the guns and the Government’.

As a young man, Bob daily saw riverboats plying their trade along the river, the heart of the town as well as the innovation and resilience typical of those who lived close to the Murray. A fit and active young man, he was part of the Warriors football team which played in the local competition.

He, Francis Fidge SX12623, 2/7th, and Geoff Harrison, SX13409 were farewelled together by over 200 people at a social in Mannum in August of 1941 and again by his own smaller community of Wall Flat in September where the Chronicle reported Bob was presented with a ‘handsome engraved money belt, with a cash donation’ by his community.

While his brother, Ken was a member of the crew of HMAS Sydney, his parents received news that Bob was wounded in action in Egypt in November of 1942. He was fortunate to recover but within three months was involved in action that made headlines in all of the main Adelaide and large regional newspapers.

The Murray Pioneer of Thursday 18 March 1943, headlined the remarkable story: “RIVER SOLDIERS PROMINENT IN DESERT ACTION WHEN PTE. PERCY GRATWICK WINS V.C. Several soldiers of the River districts, including Sgt. Alf Meyer (who also lost his life in the battle) and Sgt. Harry Lock, both of Renmark, were prominent in the action in which Pte. Percy Gratwick of Western Australia showed outstanding bravery and won the VC. This was the battle of El Alamein at the end of last October. Referring to the outstanding work of the 2/48th Battalion on this occasion Kenneth Slesseor (Official War Correspondent) has written as follows:—

“Within one week, in the last great battle of El Alamein, two men of the 2/48th Battalion won the Victoria Cross. Sgt. Bill Kibby, VC, and Pte. Percy Gratwick, VC, lie under the sand in soldiers' graves today. Australia is far away over the rim of the world, and no one comes near the wooden crosses painted with their names except the wandering Bedouin and the little lizards of the desert.

But their battalion is rich in its pride and in its memories. They will never be forgotten. From the stories of their mates, those reluctant-tongued soldiers who fixed bayonets with them in the great offensive which drove Rommel from Egypt, come portraits of these two men in action which no other source could furnish.

Percy Eric Gratwick, 40 years old, from Port Hedland, Western Australia, was one of the quietest privates in the battalion. "Percy just climbed up and did it without waiting for orders from anyone." said Cpl. Frank Dillon, from Naracoorte, South Australia, who was fighting in the same section. "If he hadn't done it we'd all have been wiped out. He was always a good soldier, but quiet. Yet underneath his quiet he had a mind to see things through—anything through.

The attack had been in progress for about 48 hours when, on the night of October 25-26 the battalion was ordered to capture Trig 29 south-west of Tel el Isa on Ruin Ridge. ‘A’ Company got the job, and in the final phase Percy Gratwick was out in front on his own. Already on their way and 800 yards from the starting lines they came to a rise. On the other side, a little to the south, was their objective. But once over this rise they were barred by a strongpost on slopes below from which Spandau machine guns and mortars swept all the high ground above. This strongpost had to be eliminated before Trig 29 could be reached. No 7 platoon with 20 men under Lt. Colin Taggart, was given the job. They set off in three sections. Cpl. Bart Lindsay from South Australia, in charge of number one, on the left. Cpl. Mick Cleave, from West Coast of South Australia in charge of number two, on the right. Taggart be-tween the two sections leading, with Sgt. Alf Meyer from Renmark, just behind, and Sgt. Harry Lock, also from Renmark, bringing up the rear, in charge of number three section.

"The moment we crossed the sky-line we got belted with everything - mortars, Spandaus and later on, grenades," said Dillon. "Bill Perce who comes from the same place as Lindsey, was one of the first to get hit. We reached the point where we had to swing south and there Taggart was killed by a burst from a machine-gun nest about 50 yards ahead. We could see other nest further forward down the slope. They seemed to be spread every-where. We went to ground in a hurry. Then Meyer took over the command. Lock brought his section forward, and we went on again. Almost at once there were two more casualties. Meyer was killed by a burst similar "to that which got Taggrart.

Algy Walker, from Norwood, South Australia, continued the story at this point. "Not many of us were left," he said "I remember Percy Gratwick, Harry Lock Bart Lindsey, Rob Wandenberg, from Murray Bridge; Ike Dansie and Frank here, and a few others. That machine-gun post in front had us pinned to earth, and we couldn't move. If they'd started with their mortars it would have been the end of us. Every move we made on that slope could be seen from below. Then suddenly without saying a word, Gratwick takes out a grenade, climbs on his feet and gallops forward, holding his rifle in his left hand. It was so crazy, and he was so quick, that the Jerries didn't realise what was happening. Some of them never did. Percy gave them the grenade, dropped down on one knee, got out another, and let fly with that. Next instant he had scrambled forward and dropped into their pit. Another Jerry about 20 yards further down the slope was trying to finish him off with a tommy-gun. There were two other Germans in another post with a mortar between them. Percy must have been there at the same time as we did, but apparently had no more grenades. We ducked and next time we looked Percy was up on his feet, charging with fixed bayonet and the Jerry was still trying to spray him with his tommy-gun. It was all over in a few seconds.

Percy only had 20 yards to go, and you don't miss much with a tommy gun at that distance. But we saw him make it, and then he disappeared, but he got the Jerry first. We didn't hear that tommy-gun again, nor the mortar." Part of the official citation states, "His great gallantry and unselfish bravery so unnerved the enemy that it allowed his platoon and company to move forward to the final objective, mopping up with great effect and capturing many prisoners." His comrades say that it was Gratwick's first time in action. He joined the battalion while it was defending Tobruk, but only towards the end, when most of the fireworks were over.

The Border watch of Mount Gambier added “We stayed quiet for a while, and then looked at the shambles around us There were dead and wounded everywhere. On the way east we had captured a Ger-man Regimental Aid Post and we set about getting our wounded back there. We collected a couple of Jerry prisoners, found an iron bedstead, put Norman, Learney aboard and told them to carry him. We were dogtired by daylight when we retired a couple of hundred, yards and dug in. It wasn't until two days, later that we had an opportunity to go out and look for our dead. When we got to the place they had disap-peared. We guessed that Jerry had dropped them in a shallow trench and covered them over, so we started searching below every freshly turned patch of sand. We spent ten days searching before we found them. They were all lying together in one grave. We took them out and did the job properly, burying them in a row —Bill Kibby, Peter Robbins, Rod Ide, Doug Whyte, Chuck Fowler, with Eric Montgomerie just behind. We couldn't say much, but I guess we all knew, every man of us, that if it hadn't been for Bill Kibby we might have been lying there with them." This encounter would have been seared in Bob’s mind, both in the loss of compatriots and in his own mortality.

In his honour, Bob’s brother Harold and his wife Esther, named their young son Robert born in 1943. In a tragedy for them all the young baby died three months later and continued to be mourned ‘A dear little angel to this earth was sent but like a rosebud, only lent.’

Robert was finally discharged on the 13th February, 1946 to return to South Australia. He was the only child in his family not to marry. He was able, though to help the family celebrate his parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary solemnised at St. Laurence's Church, North Adelaide, on March 17, 1902

In his later years, Bob lived at Glegowrie but for what he had seen and endured, it may as well have been Bob who ‘light lamps by the Murray’.

Bob died, aged 78 on the 16th January, 1995. A memorial to him is in the Enfield Cemetery at Clearview.

Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion