Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Walter’s father, William heeded the call to serve in WWI, enlisting in Perth just prior to his 45th birthday in January 1916. William, a bricklayer, was allocated the number 634 and served in the 44th Battalion including in France. Unfortunately, he later developing a painful bunion condition which hastened his discharge.
At the time he enlisted, his youngest son, Walter Hartwell James, was just 8 years old, having been born in Cannington, Western Australia, on the 25th May 1907 to Henrietta Hay.
Walter, generally known as Jim, had two brothers, Stanley Gordon and Jack Parbury. Sadly, Stanley died prior to Walter’s arrival. He was the second son, born in 1901 but died in the Perth hospital in November ’05, aged four years and nine months, and was buried in the Cannington Church of England Cemetery
Jim and Jack attended the local Cannington School before Jim became a clerk. In a hot-headed incident as a 21-year-old whilst still living in Western Australia, he and 22-year-old Sam Buckingham had a disagreement which escalated into a fist fight on the Esplanade. Fortunately, this was interrupted by the local constable. Regrettably, Sam came off the worst, needing stitches above his eye. Both men were to appear before the City Court but Jim failed to appear so forfeited his bail.
Jim moved to South Australia where he lived in Murray Bridge, working as a member of the Murray Bridge Fire Brigade.
In November ’34, a raid was conducted on several hairdressing saloons in the town, plus the bars of two local hotels. Jim was caught and pleaded guilty to a charge of having been in the Railway Hairdressing Saloon for the purpose of unlawful betting. The raid was conducted in a concerted effort to stamp out illegal betting venues as there were facilities for legal betting in the town. A hefty fine of £10 with 27/- costs was imposed on Jim which, if defaulted would result in one month's imprisonment. The police acknowledged that Hay was not the principal in the case, and another prosecution would probably follow.
Within two years, in July ’36 Jim’s 66-year-old father, William died. Because of his trade, he was a member of the Bricklayers and Wallers Industrial Union and was honoured by this group at his funeral, before being interred in the Canning Cemetery (now the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetery). Jim’s mother, Henrietta lived for a further 26 years and died in ’62. She now also rests with William.
Jim married Ethel Magdalene Mead with the couple living in Murray Bridge. In ‘37 Jim and Ethel (Madge) welcomed the first of their four children, Moira Ella. Over the following years, Phyl, Kevin James ‘41 and lastly Trevor William arrived, with Trevor being born post war in ’46.
With the outbreak of WWII, aged 33, Jim enlisted on the 11th June ’40 with many others from his Murray Bridge region and the Riverland. Jim was allocated the number SX7411 and placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. He and other new enlistees were initially housed in the Motor Pavilion of what is now the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds. Their ‘beds’ were straw filled hessian on wooden pallets. The young men were later given kitbags on which their names were stencilled.
On subsequent days, the battalion headed to Woodside in the Adelaide Hills for preliminary training. Following leave in October, Jim and his fellow members of the 2/48th Battalion then embarked on the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 10th April ’41, arriving on the 15th May. The young men then marched to a Staging Camp until July before returning to their battalion. During those early days in the Middle East, besides regular army duties was the need to quickly adapt to the locals as well as soon being involved in intense conflicts where the reputation of the 2/48th Battalion for being the most highly decorated but decimated battalion was earned. Jim was to become one of the highly respected and famed Rats of Tobruk.
Unfortunately, while serving in the Gaza Ridge and just after Christmas ’40 Jim contracted mumps, spending a fortnight in hospital. Within five months he was again hospitalised with appendicitis before being able to re-join his battalion at the staging camp in Amiriya. March the following year, probably as an indication of the desert conditions and Jim not being fully back to health, a bout of tonsilitis and yet further hospitalisation followed. In between, Jim attended the Infantry Trig Battalion to acquire specific skills of warfare but August saw him contracts a streptococcus infection and painful skin rash, with yet another hospital stay before being able to return to his 2/48th Battalion.
Jim’s time of sound health was shattered when he was wounded in action during the fierce fighting at the end of October ’42. He received extensive gunshot wounds to his thighs and arm, requiring month long treatment.
At that time, Montgomery had ordered the 9th Battalion to attack northward. This included an all-out attack on the strategically positioned Trig 29. Conditions were ever-changing and the fighting continuous. Jim’s 2/48th Battalion prepared for the second battle of El Alamein which began on October 23rd. The evening was described by John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ as ‘an occasional burst from a machine gun disturbed the night of 24th October. Nevertheless, it was a busy time for the tired men. Little or no sleep could be had. A hot meal sent forward after dark was quickly swallowed. There was no time for yarning. Defences had to be improved, more digging and wiring done, and patrols sent out.’ He later added that ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest.’ On that night alone 9 of the Battalion were killed and 20 wounded in action. Of these 16 were from South Australia and the remainder from Western Australia.
Glenn explains 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.’ At the end of the night the battalion had just 41 men still standing. John Glenn best summarised the soldiers’ efforts. ‘Truly it can be said of these men, “They fought themselves and their enemy to a standstill until flesh and blood could stand no more, then they went on fighting.”
Back home the November issue of the Chronicle carried an extensive list of the cost to the soldiers involved in Jim’s battalion. SX11130 Pte. Ernest W S. Moore from Nth. Kensington and SX13756 Pte. Edward G. Davis, from Salisbury were killed in action. SX8096 A-Cpl. Henry D. Laughton, from King's Park was listed as Dangerously Wounded. Many others were listed as wounded in action including SX10316 Mjr. Geoffrey S. Edmunds, Toorak; SX9064 Lt. Hugh F. Treloar, Adelaide; SX8402 Pte. Arnold R. Dolan, Renmark; SX6910 Pte. Hoard Major, Woodville; SX6832 Pte. Walter J. Fennell, Berri; SX13701 Pte. Frank M. Lowe, Whyalla; SX7609 Pte. Colin H. Rickard, Penola; SX7411 Pte. Walter H. J. Hay, Murray Bridge; SX7122 Pte. Percival G. Bartholomew, Narrung; SX11828 Pte. Roy H. Winter, Thebarton; SX7242 Pte. P. A. Pfeiffer, Berri; SX7130 Pte. Eric A. Goold, Salisbury; SX6829 L-Cpl. Clement R. P. Billing, Pinnaroo; SX10501 Pte. Hedley K. Bonython, Burnside; SX7591 Cpl. Jack S. Bowers, Unley; SX7666 Pte. Eric J. Chuck, Kalangadoo; SX8810 Pte. Havard (Howard) R. Crabb, Whyalla; SX13683 Pte. Sydney L. Farrell Broken Hill: SX7657 Pte. Myers A. Geraghy, Pt . Macdonnell; SX7266 Sgt. Neil Gilchrist, Balaklava; SX9376 Pte. Harold H. Gogel, Moorook; SX11131 Pte. H. N. Headon, Adelaide; SX7642 Pte Donald J. Kerin, Burra; SX8837 Pte. Edgar V. W. Lynch, Adelaide; SX9445 Pte. Lawerence H. Mickan, Cummins; SX7025 A-L/Cpl. Paul B. Morrissey King's Park; SX9530 Pte. David R. Munn, Colonel Light Gardens: SX5030 Pte. Eric R. Olds, Adelaide; SX8239 Pte. Colin R. Parsons, Minlaton; SX8904 Pte. Keith Player, Warooka; SX6915 Cpl. Glyn H. Pope, Cheltenham; SX13012 Pte. Jack Ralla, Brompton; SX7410 Cpl. Robert F. G. Ranford, Davington; SX14283 Pte. John D Seebohm, Tantanoola; SX11302 Pte. Walter Sharp, Magill; SX7206 Pte. Ronald. C. Smith, Helmsdale; SX6894 Pte. Thomas V. Trish, Mile End; SX7221 Pte. William H. Vivian, Albert Park; SX7689 Pte. John E. Wakeman, Robe; SX11160 Pte. Samuel E. Welsh, Adelaide and SX7808 Sgt, Jack K. Weston, Appila.
The November issue of the Advertiser also carried the news that Jim’s wife, Madge, ‘Mrs. J. Hay, of Murray Bridge, has been notified that her husband, Pte. J. Hay, has been wounded in action in Egypt. Pte. Hay enlisted in July, 1940, and left for overseas service in November of that year.’
Following three months back with his battalion, Jim was then finally able to leave the Middle East and return to Australia via Melbourne, arriving in February ’43.
Precious leave with his young family preceeded Jim headed to Brisbane where training was underway to prepare for facing a very different enemy in the tropical conditions of New Guinea. His previous injures made foot soldier duties challenging, so Jim undertook a course in the essential craft of mobile cooking. He then left Cairns, arriving in Milne Bay in August ’43. Ill health continued to follow – inevitably malaria but also a high fever (called Pyrexia of Unknown Origin). By February ’44 he was able to return to Australia via Brisbane, still affected by malaria and requiring hospital treatment. Frustration boiled over in June, resulting in a charge of ‘Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline’ with Jim being confined to barracks for four days. By November, he had gained accreditation as a Group II Cook and returned to the 2/48th for a further stint overseas at Tarakan from May to August ‘45. His war then was coming to an end as he returned to South Australia via Sydney, finally being discharged in October ’45.
Jim’s wife, Madge died in August ’72 aged 58. Aged 83, Jim died on the 25th October 1990. Both were buried in the Murray Bridge Cemetery.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133 2/48th Battalion.