Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Claude was the third child and second son in Arthur and Frances Mary Hay’s family of seven children. He was born in Norwood on the 14th October, 1918 with siblings Mervyn Arthur, Jean, Maxwell Clarence (Max), Norman James, Alma May and Albert Kenneth (Alby). The children all attended the nearby Norwood School.
Both Claude and his brother Mervyn found work as rabbit boners or skinners with the firm Bodley & Co. This company was involved in the large-scale cold storage of rabbits which were subsequently transported to Melbourne and frequently then to Canada, America and England.
Aged 22, Claude was the first of his brothers to enlist on the 12th January 1940 whilst working in Melbourne for his firm, as a refrigeration process worker. Returning to South Australia, he was allocated the number SX7840 and placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. His older brother, Mervyn soon enlisted on the 12th June as SX5157 in the 2/27th Battalion. Merv eventually rose to become a Sergeant.
(Two other brothers, 18-year-old Maxwell Clarence later enlisted on the 13th October 1943 as SX33722 serving as a Trooper in the 2/6 Independent Company Commandos at Morotai. Norman James also enlisted as SX33408 and served in New Guinea.)
In September that year, Claude’s younger married brother 20-year-old Albert (Alby) died in the Albert Hospital, Melbourne and was buried at Sandringham. In the ensuing years the family continued to remember him. Despite being overseas, on the anniversary of his death the following year, his two serving brothers placed a Memorial in the Advertiser ‘HAY.—In memory of our dear brother, Albert, who died on September 26, 1940. To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.—Remembered by Mervyn (A.I.F. abroad), Claude (A.I.F. abroad).’ Similarly, back home all Alby’s siblings and parents placed tributes. This also continued in subsequent years.
1943 ‘HAY.—In loving memory of dear Alby. who died Sept. 26. I94O. Sleep on. dear brother, so kind and true, no brother on earth was better than you. —lnserted by Claude, late 2nd A.I.F., returned.
1944 HAY.—In loving memory of Albert, died Sept. 26, 1940. Thoughts go back to happy days, times moves on, but memory stays.—inserted by his loving brother Claude. late 2nd A.I.F.
1948 HAY.—In loving memory of my brother Alby, passed away suddenly September 26, 1940. Time goes on but memories stay.—Ever remembered by his brother Claude.
Following pre-embarkation leave, less than two months after Albert’s death, Claude was soon on board the Stratheden on the 7th November, arriving in the Middle East on the 17th December. By the end of December that year, Mervyn also arrived in the Middle East and it is possible that both brothers attempted to ‘catch up’. In less than a month, Claude pushed the boundaries with his conduct and was given a hefty penalty of being confined to barracks for 6 days. (Mervyn was confined to barracks for three days.)
The poor desert conditions contributed to Claude contracting dysentery, then cellulitis in his right leg. This became infected in December ’41 with resultant hospital treatment required. By the start of ’42 Claude had also picked up a further infection, followed by hepatitis. Almost inevitably a string of offences including being absent without leave, losing his paybook and poor conduct followed with the imposition of a hefty £5 fine. The following month Claude was treated for a scald to his leg, requiring two weeks of treatment.
A month after his return to the 2/48th, early in November ’42, Claude received extensive shell wounds to his head, neck and chest, being extremely fortunate to survive.
Over the days towards the end of October fierce fighting was unrelenting for the 2/48th Battalion. 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. 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 November issue of the Advertiser 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 Advertiser also advised readers that ‘Mrs. A. Hay, of Adelaide, has been notified that her second son, Pte. Claude Frederick Hay, 24 has been wounded in action, and placed on the dangerously ill list. He served for eight months in Tobruk, and in Egypt and Palestine. Pte. Hay enlisted in June, 1940, and went overseas in November of the same year. Before enlisting he was employed by H. Bodley and Co, Adelaide. His brother, Pte. Mervyn Hay, recently returned with the AIF from the Middle East.
Claude and Bernard Hoffman were both extremely fortunate to survive with both remaining on the Chronicle’s Wounded list in December ‘Seriously Wounded. — SX7840 Pte. Claud F Hay, Adelaide. Dangerously Wounded. — SX7015 Pte Bernard O. Hoffman. Walkerville’. By the 10th of that month, both were ‘Removed From All Lists’.
In an understatement, Claude’s record lists that he was ‘Temporarily unfit for service for a period greater than six months’. By early December ’42, he returned to Australia on a hospital ship, disembarking in Melbourne and thence to Adelaide for further treatment of his head injury in January ’43. By this stage, Claude’s mother was working as a cleaner and trying to provide for and keep the young children of the family together as Arthur, their father, had left and provided no financial support.
At the time, older brother Mervyn was granted compassionate leave in January ’43 to help with the care of Claude. This became a seemingly endless paper trail to gain financial support for Claude and his mother. Inevitably, Merv was required to re-join his 2/27th Battalion and served in Darwin. Claude continued to receive attention for his head injury spending time in Daws Road, Australian Military Hospital in June that year.
Whilst on sick leave and still experiencing the effects of his head injury, Claude faced charges of indecent language and creating a disturbance at the Hotel Carlton for which he faced a fine of £1. As the year progressed Claude amassed on-going fines, including a massive loss of £10/8/- pay for a ‘self-inflicted’ illness plus more minor fines for being AWOL. In all probability, these were related to the head injury he had sustained. The remains of Claude’s 2/48th Battalion returned to Australia via Melbourne at the start of February ’43 with Claude finally discharged on the 10th September ’43.
In that era, to gain an alcoholic drink after hours, a person had to declare that they had travelled from a place at least 60 miles away or face a hefty fine. Unfortunately, at that time, Claude was back living in his childhood home, so gave a false name, which compounded the fine he received for drinking at the Family Hotel, Glenelg in February. The initial fine was £7, with 10/ costs for after-hours drinking, £7, with 10/ costs for saying they were travellers, and finally for giving a false name, a fine of £1, with 10/ costs.
Claude eventually married Jean with the couple having two children, Graham Claude born 24th July ’44 and Wendy Jean born 9th August ’45. By that stage, Claude had gained piece work as a rabbit skinner.
Two months after baby Graham’s arrival, and just a week before the anniversary of Alby’s death on the 26th September ’44, the family was struck a further cruel blow when their youngest married sister, 20 year old Alma O’Connell, died giving birth to her baby daughter, Alma Frances, on the 19th September. Again, Claude and his family placed a tribute in her memory.
1946 O'CONNELL (nee Hay).—In loving memory of my dear sister and sister in law Alma who passed away September 19 1944. A tribute of love and affection To one we shall never forget, Her absence to us is a sorrow, Her loss is a constant regret, Always remembered by Claude, Jean little Graham.
Aged 62 their father Arthur, who had returned to the family, died unexpectedly at his home on King William Street on the 25th February ’47 having spent some time in the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He was subsequently buried in the West Terrace Cemetery.
As a consequence of his severe head injury, Claude spent some time in the Springbank Hospital working with a specialist in head trauma and for his reactive Anxiety state over 1948 before applying for his full War Gratuity of £116/5/- to come into effect in March ’51. Despite listing associated ongoing loss of work time over ‘46 and ‘47 this was denied as no hardship or ‘severe distress’ was noted. Claude had been assessed as ‘simply’ having a 40% incapacity as a result of his war injury
Post war, Claude had failed to apply for a driver’s licence. Unfortunately, he was caught just prior to Christmas ’51 driving without due care and without a licence, an expensive exercise for the first offence being fined £7. with 11/ costs, and the lack of a licence costing him £2 10/
Seven years later, aged just 39, Claude died on the 4th October ’58 and was buried in the Derrick Gardens of Centennial Park Cemetery on Path 12, Grave 297.In a poignant tribute, the inscription on his grave reads ‘Peacefully at Rest with His Pals’. He had also pre-deceased his mother, Frances who died on the 18th April, ’63 having seen three of her children buried in her lifetime.
Claude’s older brother, Mervyn, also rests nearby on Path 31 Grave 20A. He died aged 47 on the 7th March ’65.