Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Henry’s parents, William John and Elizabeth Margaret both grew up in the Adelaide Hills at Uraidla and Woodside respectively. Henry John, known widely as Len (after a feisty boxer of the time), was their second son, born at Woodside on the 7th May 1915. His siblings included Albert William, Arthur Edward, Stanley Kenneth George, Margaret and Joyce. The children grew up at Grunthal (German for ‘Green Valley’) a town in the Adelaide Hills first settled by Prussian settlers who had come to South Australia for safety and freedom of worship. As were several other towns with Germanic names, Grunthal was renamed Verdun (in honour of the WWI Battle of Verdun) during WWI.
Just days after Henry’s 10th birthday, his father, William was driving a loaded horse-drawn trolly to Woodside. Unfortunately, as the trolly crossed the rail line just north of Woodside, a passing Adelaide-bound goods train struck the back of his cart. The force of the collision threw William to the ground, with the train engine smashing the back of his trolly. The Mount Barker Courier of May ’25 reported that ‘The horses bolted, dragging the trolly with them, and they were stopped at Woodside’ adding that William was considerably bruised and knocked about. (William, fortunately lived to be 90.)
The Aubert children all attended the local Woodside school, following which Henry took on labouring work. Conditions pre-war during the Depression required creative thinking and hard manual work for families to survive. This included collecting, cutting and selling firewood. William contracted with the local council to undertake the clearing of wood near a property that was to become famous, owned by the now highly regarded Hans Heysen’s holding. The artist was expanding his own land at a similar time by purchasing an unmade road partly surrounding his property.
Having just turned 25, Henry, enlisted at Murray Bridge to serve in WWII on the 25th June, 1940 as SX8734 and was allocated to the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. Several other local young men had also enlisted at a similar time. Their initial days were spent in the cold of the Pavilions, now part of the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, before Henry and other new enlistees headed back to the Hills region of Woodside they were more familiar with, for preliminary training. Henry’s youngest brother, Ken aged 17 was also involved in the war effort, initially as volunteer S51452 and then as SX22702 in the 149 Light A.A. Battery.
During pre-embarkation leave, over 100 of the local Verdun community crowded into the school room to farewell the recent batch of enlistees. The singing of the National Anthem was followed by a welcome from the Patriotic Club, then community singing, and an unusual general knowledge test followed as part of the entertainment. It resulted in a draw. The new enlistees were wished a speedy and safe return before each was presented with a memento and a wallet containing a sum of money. Henry, Walter Stewein SX7933 and Dudley Anderson SX6030 of the 2/48th Battalion plus Vernon Rason, SX5512 of the 2/43rd, John Vincent SX9244 of the 2/4th Battalion and Rosley Pilmore SX8409 of the 27th Battalion were also given a parcel from the Patriotic Club with Vernon responding on their behalf. The evening concluded with the singing of "For they are Jolly Good Fellows." And a typical country supper.
Henry and his fellow 2/48th Battalion members boarded the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 7th November 1940 and disembarked on the 17th December. The 2/48th Battalion completing a few months training in Cyrenaica before the next stop, Tobruk at the start of April 1941 where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to young men more used to the tranquillity of the Adelaide Hills.

War and accidents inevitably happen. In Tobruk to Tarakan, John Glenn explained that ‘Tourbol was not the pleasantest place for a camp. It was treeless, and hot winds swept across the bare ground, but it wasn’t because of this that the men most remembered Tourbol. Here we had an unfortunate series of fatal accidents that robbed the battalion of some fine men who had given such sterling service through Tobruk.’ He explained that at night, without the use of vehicle lights, drivers had to rely on white stones which marked the sides of the road. On May 29th ‘42 Henry was fortunate to survive a vehicle collision on the Tripoli to Lattakia road when his and another army vehicle crashed. Glenn explained that ‘L.T. Farrell and R.M. Steele were killed and three others were injured when two unit trucks collided.’ This was the third horrific accident over the week where dusty conditions and poor visibility would have been factors. Henry received concussion, multiple abrasions and a torn pelvis ligament (sacrospinous) causing him to have time in a New Zealand General Hospital for over a month before he was able to return to the 2/48th. Glenn explained that ‘The members of the Battalion killed in this series of accidents were buried with full military honours in the historic Victoria Memorial cemetery at El Mina.’ A Court of Enquiry was held but fortunately found that neither Henry or other soldiers were negligent and there was no misconduct on the part of those involved.
By March,’43 Henry was back home in Australia on leave. At that stage he and Joyce Chapman of Prospect announced a short-lived engagement. The following week the Verdun locals had also organised a welcome home social for Sergeants Stewein and Dudley W. Anderson SX6030, Privates Len. Burgoyne SX1015, Henry and James Mc Mutrie SX7660 all from the 2/48th Battalion and other young men from different battalions. Several speeches were made before a two minutes' silence was observed in memory of fallen comrades. Some of the soldiers responded before ‘For They are Jolly Good Fellows’ was sung, preceding a generous supper.
Training in Queensland followed in preparation for Henry’s battalion moving to fight in the tropical conditions of New Guinea against a very different enemy and in totally different surroundings. He arrived in Milne Bay in August ’43.
By the 24th October ‘43 the Allied forces had disrupted land supplies to the Japanese, resulting in air drops. In Tobruk to Tarakan, John Glenn described how the 2/48th then pushed further into the jungle, ambushing a 20 strong party of Japanese. The patrol from C Company inflicted numerous casualties. ‘In an effort to pick up any stragglers from these enemy patrols, D Company sent out a party consisting of Corporal Duffield, Lance-Corporal Scanlan, Privates Augberg, O’Callaghan and two others to scout around the area and check the paths leading to the Siki River. Jack Duffield was moving well in the lead of the patrol when a party of Japs opened fire. He fell, badly wounded in the leg and hand, just ten yards from the enemy, unable to move. Mick Scanlan immediately took over command of the party and organised covering fire from the Bren enabling him to move forward to Corporal Duffield, who was attempting to roll into the cover of the jungle besides the track. Mick reached the wounded man, and placing him on his back, crawled a distance of twenty yards to the safety of the undergrowth.’ Jack was wounded again, losing an eye, as Mick withdrew the patrol a short distance, then sent back to Headquarters for help. When this arrived after several hours the D Company patrol, including Henry, were able to withdraw. For his ‘coolness and unselfish bravery’ Mick was immediately awarded the Military Medal. In the encounter, Henry had sustained a gunshot wound to his right wrist which was efficiently treated by the 2/11 field ambulance.
The following month the local Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser reported that two local men Pte. H. J. Aubert, of Verdun and SX7753 Cpl. Donald H. Gilbert, of Nairne from the 2/43rd were both wounded in action.
Scrub typhus and dengue fever were Henry’s companions by the end of ’43 and beginning of ’44. By March Henry had returned from New Guinea via Brisbane and spent his leave back in Verdun. At a social held by the local Vigilance Committee, the opportunity was taken to welcome Pte. H. Aubert, who is on leave from New Guinea. In August Henry sustained a fractured wrist followed by a concerning bout of epilepsy. Malaria continued to affect him on his return to South Australia, eventually resulting in his final discharge in February ’45.
A fellow soldier, Clarence William Stewart of Kadina, had enlisted at a similar time to Henry as SX7508 and was also in the 2/48th Battalion. Through the friendship of the two men, Henry met Clarence’s sister, Audrey Edith Stewart to whom he proposed on his return from New Guinea in January ’45. That same month, Clarence married Dulcie Hillier, in the A.W.A.S, at Kadina. Private Henry Aubert was best man for Clarence and Audrey was the bridesmaid for Dulcie. The newlyweds both returned to their units in preparation for their discharge.
Audrey and Henry then organised their own wedding in November, announcing ‘The marriage of Audrey, youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs C. J. Stewart, Kadina, to Henry (Len) Aubert (ex-A.I.F.), second son of Mr and Mrs W. J. Aubert, Hectorville, will be solemnised at the Victoria Square Methodist Church, Kadina, on November 17, at 7 p.m.’ Audrey had chosen the same church as Clarence for their wedding. She chose her sister as Matron of Honor and Henry’s two sisters, Margaret and Joyce as bridesmaids. Henry chose his three brothers, Alb, Arthur and Stan as his attendants.
In April ’47 the young couple welcome the first of their two children, Jeanette Marlene, born at the Kadina Hospital. Malvern Robert was born in November 1950 at the Whyalla Hospital.
Aged 77 Henry died in Whyalla on the 30th September 1992 and was buried in the local cemetery.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion