Virtual
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Australia

Harold’s family farmed at Ceduna on the west coast of South Australia where they were lauded as one of the early pioneering families in the area. Harold was the only son and third child of Conrad Paul Linke and Johanna Louisa Bertha (known to all as Bertha.) Harold was born at the nearby town of Denial Bay on the 3rd December 1915. Growing up, he was surrounded by four sisters, Hilda Martha, Pearl and younger sisters Lila and Dulcie.
The children all attended the local Goode School where, as an eleven-year-old, Harold was a prominent sportsman at the School Picnic held at the local sportsground. He proved to be a confident athlete in the flat race and high jump as well as talented in the novelty sack and horse races. The day involved students enjoying their annual picnic lunch, followed by an evening dance held in the hall.
When his older sister, Hilda, married into another pioneering family of Ceduna, the Klaus’ Harold acted as groomsman whilst their sister, Pearl was a bridesmaid, Dulcie a flower girl, and young Lila hung a lucky horseshoe on Hilda’s arm.
To celebrate Harold’s ‘Coming of Age’ a large gathering collected in the Goode Hall to enjoy games, singing, and dancing. The latter began with an intricate Polonaise as well as other older and new style dances. Following supper, speeches were made to which Harold responded, also accepting the traditional ‘gold key’ and his freedom from his father, before the evening concluded with the singing of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne."
Less than three years later, aged 24, Harold enlisted to serve in the Army on the 29th March 1940 as SX8354. Part of his pre-embarkation preparation involved having teeth extracted, as the belief was to prevent the necessity for treatment whist overseas. Following this procedure and necessary inoculations, Harold returned to Wayville to continue his training. Then, during his pre-embarkation leave, he returned to Ceduna where, just prior to Christmas a large crowd of residents from Ceduna, Thevenard, and the surrounding districts assembled in the Memorial Hall to farewell their young men. Fellow soldiers were from the 2/24th and 2/3rd Battalions. The new enlistees were escorted to the stage to be formally presented to the gathering and while regret was expressed for their departure, they were warmly congratulated for answering the call to serve, indicative of the huge number of attendees. As they young men had all grown up in the district, confidence was expressed that they would maintain the best traditions of the place they were leaving and were wished a safe and speedy return. A further speaker mentioned the good qualities of the guests and said that if the boys accredited themselves as well on the battlefield as they did at cricket and football the enemy was in for a bad time. The citizens trusted that the young men would be spared to come back to a hearty welcome home. Each soldier was presented with a parcel of comforts from the Cheer-Up Club, which had organised the evening. The young soldiers then spoke, commenting that the evening would be long remembered and also expressing their thanks to the Cheer Up Club. Supper followed the singing of "For They are Jolly Good Fellows" with dancing continued until after midnight.
Harold headed to the Middle East in February, ’41 arriving on the 23rd March that year. Following training at the Amiriya Staging Camp, he was officially placed in the 2/48th Battalion. He soon wrote home to his parents, with his letter being published in the local West Coast Sentinel in June ’41.
"This is just a few lines to let you know that I am still alive and well and hope you are all enjoying the best at home. I saw Mort Smith last night and he is getting along quite O.K. I also bumped into Max Smith a few days ago. He was down this way on his way back from visiting Mort. He is also quite well.
"I had quite a good trip last Sunday down at Jerusalem and the sights I saw were marvellous. I am sending you a souvenir of an olive leaf from the Garden of Gethsemane. which was given to me by the priest of the 'Church of All Nations’. I also visited the Holy Sepulchre, the place of the Crucifixion, the actual cross itself, the Mount of Olives, Calvary and the place where Jesus came before Pontius Pilate. These places are all hewn out of solid rock in the side of Mt. Calvary, and the precious stones inside these places are indescribable. In the Church of all Nations the different churches have a small portion of it, hence the name. "I was in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and saw a pilgrim's procession from Jerusalem to Bethany and Mount of Olives. All carried a branch of the palm."

Harold was wounded in action early in November ’42, sustaining a compound fracture of his right humerus and left forearm and was fortunate to be evacuated for treatment. At the time, his battalion was involved in fierce, unrelenting fighting at the end of October. John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ described how ‘The attack continued, however, without pause…it was only after hard fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides, that they were able to consolidate on their objective. The troops had never been more tired. The 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ 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 a cloud of dust and smoke.’ A comment was later made about the heavy casualties. Glenn also explained they were ‘running into particularly stiff opposition to the west of the Trig point. It was only after hard fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides, that they were able to consolidate on their objective. Gradually the platoon, small in number to start with, was being whittled away and those remaining were being forced to go to ground.’
Murray Farquhar in ‘Derrick V.C.’ includes the detail of that time; the 25th October attack on Trig 29 where a savage dog fight ensued. ‘There were Jerry machine-gun nests cross firing from all angles. They had us in a real fix. We tried to dig in.’
The same local newspaper carried less welcome news seventeen months after publishing Harold’s first letter. November ’42. ‘WOUNDED IN ACTION Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Linke, of Ceduna, have been advised that their son Pte. H. O. Linke has been wounded in Egypt. Harold has been away two years, and took part in the battles of Tobruk, from which he emerged safely. Word has also come to Ceduna from Mrs. Claude Blumson, of Adelaide, that her brother Max Fuss (SX7559 also in the 2/48th Battalion) has been wounded in action in Egypt; also her brother Ken, who is not so well-known to Ceduna folk as Max. These two brothers had not seen each other for 13 years until they met recently in Palestine. Max, who is 22 years of age, has been in the front line for two years.
The November issue of the Advertiser also listed those injured at a similar time, with fellow 2/48th members being Wounded In Action SX7825 Cpl. William O. Braund, Maitland. SX11862 Pte. Peter Coll, Gladeville. NSW. SX7014 Cpl Ronald J. Hanson, Croydon. SX7276 CpL Stephen. B. Lister, Birkenhead SX8871 Pte. Stewart A. Martin. Sandllands. SX13743 Pte. William. P. Martin. Largs Bay SX5294 SX12804 Pte. David. S. Richards, Wokurna. SX11155 Pte. Ernest W. Starkey. Port LincoIn. SX7271 Pte. Fauntal. R. Whitford. Middleton. Also on the Seriously ill list were SX7840 Pte Claude F. Hay Adelaide and Wounded In Action And Placed On Dangerously III list SX7015 Pte. Bernard O. Hoffman, Walkerville.
The immediate loss of the function of both arms inevitably meant that Harold was classified as being temporarily unfit for service for more than six months. The complexity of his injuries also meant that he continued to be assessed as being seriously ill. He was placed on a hospital ship to return to Australia via Melbourne in December ’42 and received treatment in that city over January, before being granted two weeks’ sick leave back in South Australia.
Again, the local Sentinel and also the Port Lincoln Times shared Harold’s return to his home in Ceduna in their January ’23 publication. ‘WOUND'D SOLDIER RETURNS PTE. HAROLD LINKE FROM MIDDLE EAST Among the 35 South Australian A.I.F soldiers who were wounded during the October offensive which preceded the great Allied victory over Rommel, and have returned home, is Pte. Harold Linke, only son of Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Linke, of Ceduna. He arrived at Ceduna by rail car on Tuesday and was met by his parents and Mr. J. Kinch (President of the RSA Ceduna branch). At El Alamein the Allies had everything that they lacked at Tobruk. Plenty of guns, ammunition, food and confidence, and the Air Force was supreme. Pte. Linke said: "It was the first time we had the drop on them as far as equipment was concerned. Everything worked like clockwork, although we had very little sleep for days." He was a member of the battalion who went in with about 300 men and emerged with only 41 non-casualties. He was hit in the legs and arms with shrapnel from a water bomb, and although still bandaged up is making good progress towards recovery.’
The local Cheer Up Club immediately organised a social in the Ceduna Town Hall for Harold in January ‘43. In front of the huge crowd that attended, Harold and his parents were escorted to the front of the Hall by dignitaries. Following the singing of the National Anthem, welcome speeches were made by Council Representatives, the R.S.S. and A.I.F. and a local from Harold’s home town of Goode. Harold and his father both responded, with their thanks especially to the Cheer Up Club. Music, dancing and supper followed. At the end of the month, Harold returned to hospital to continue his treatment.
Unable to return to his battalion, Harold was re-allocated to the Amenities Service, returning to Ceduna for Christmas, then returning to Camp early in January ’44. He was able to return home on leave again in August as did his brother-in-law, Jack Wellington, serving with the R.A.A.F. Harold was finally discharged on the 5th October ’44, briefly returning home until he took up a position in Adelaide. Later, in November, Harold received a warm welcome at the evening service of his Lutheran Church in Ceduna. Friends and relatives then enjoyed supper at the Manse. The local paper summarised his service saying that ‘Harold Linke joined the A.I.F. in July 1940. He saw service in the Middle East until October 1942, when he was wounded in the fighting that followed the battle of El Alamein. He was then repatriated and on account of his injuries was finally discharged in October this year.’
Harold gained work as a barman at the Overway Hotel in Hindley Street, during which time he met divorcee Phyllis Octavia. Where possible, he continued to visit his family in Ceduna in the ensuing years.
Harold’s mother died aged 63 in September ’53. His father, Conrad lived to be 78 and died in November ’64. Both now rest in the Ceduna Cemetery. Harold lived to be 63 and died on the 15th May ’79 at Clearview. He now rests in the Dudley Park Cemetery where a simple plaque to his memory is placed.
Tribute researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes, SX8133 2/48th Battalion.