Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Percy was born in Birdwood to Robert Torres and Emma Matilda Annie Bartholomew on the 10th April 1910. He was the oldest of eight children with three brothers and four sisters. His father, Robert was a hard-working labourer willing to turn his hand to many manual tasks. Prior to his marriage, Robert worked briefly for a market gardener in Findon on the original agreement that he would be given food and washing, then awarded a wage in the ensuing weeks. A dispute over wages arose, with Robert eventually finding paid alternative employment, but with the case going to court under the Master and Servants Act, Robert was considerably out of pocket and ordered to pay £1 compensation with £2 3/ costs.
Robert and Emma’s growing family later lived in Ki Ki, in the Coorong District on the main Adelaide to Melbourne train line, an area known for its sheep and grain farming. The original school opened in the Congregational Church, prior to the establishment of a more permanent schoolhouse.
Two months after Percy’s 28th birthday, his 49-year-old mother Emma died in June ’38 leaving Robert and the eight children to mourn their loss. The family placed a poignant tribute to her the following year.
Advertiser Monday 19 June 1939, ‘BARTHOLOMEW.—In loving memory of our dear mother and grandma, who passed away at Ki Ki on the 13th of June. 1938. A pleasant smile, a heart of gold. The dearest one this world did hold: For each of us she did her best. And now she has eternal rest. Ever remembered by May, Vera, Burl and grandchildren Ken and Rhonda. Narrung. BARTHOLOMEW.—In loving memory of our dear wife and mother, who passed away at Ki Ki on the 19th of June 1838. To His home above the sky. He took her without warning. For she could not say good-bye. The days are long and lonely. The nights are dark and drear. But we hope to meet her later. When we leave this vale of tears. —Inserted by her loving husband and children.’
In a further tragic blow to the family, their youngest sister, 14-year-old May died just two years after her mother, in July ’40. She was also buried in the Murray Bridge cemetery near Emma.
The family moved to Narrung where Robert and the boys were employed as farmhands. Narrung was a very small country area, home to one of the State’s first sheep stations on the Coorong to the west of Meningie and on the shores of Lake Albert. It had a jetty frequently visited by river steamers which brought supplies, mail and passengers. The town was also serviced by a local ferry and on occasion, was subjected to flooding.
In the very patriotic times following WWI, it was common for many young men to want to ‘do their duty’ to the place they called home, Australia. Hence when WWII began, Percy, then an older farm labourer, aged 30 enlisted at the end of June ’40 as did fellow farmer from the same area, Lawrence Dabinett. Percy was allocated the number SX7122 and Lawrence SX7667 with both being placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion with. The following month, Percy’s 20-year-old brother, George also enlisted, becoming SX10027. George was with the RAE 1st Australian Corps, rising to become a Lance Corporal, serving in the Middle East and New Guinea as would Percy. George nominated his older brother as his supplementary Next of Kin after his widowed father.
Percy’s early days were spent in the cold of the Pavilions, now part of the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, before he and Lawrence headed to Woodside for their preliminary training.
Following pre-embarkation leave the 2/48th Battalion then embarked on the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 7th November 1940 and disembarked on the 17th December. The young men then completed a few months training in Cyrenaica before heading to Tobruk at the start of April 1941 where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to these fresh new enlistees. Percy was to become one of the famed Rats of Tobruk, but his life was to be irrevocably changed. At some stage over the ensuing months, Percy’s ‘haircut’ inevitably contributed to him being affectionately nick-named ‘Baldy’.
Percy’s battalion had barely arrived in the Middle East when in May ‘41 he sustained a gunshot wound to his left arm, and being evacuated to hospital. His injury occurred in the fierce fighting for Hill 209 which also claimed the lives of seven others. John Glenn in his book, ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ described conditions that day at Dimra: “At 3:50am on 1st May the men of the 2/48th stood-to to await the outcome of the battle which had raged all through the night. In thick mist, darkness, and bitter cold they snatched a quick breakfast of bully beef and hard biscuits.” Attempting to take Hill 209 in the heavy dust storm was marked by overhead enemy aircraft targeting their carrying vehicles, ‘D Company moved out steadily with two platoons forward- 18 Platoon under Lieutenant Larkins on the right and 17 Platoon with Sergeant Tonkin in command on the left.’ ‘The company then moved well forward under control, and came under small arms fire, but continued until they came under very heavy machine-gun fire from the direction of the Water Point and Post S4.’
The remainder of that day was chaotic, information scant, the men weary and under heavy fire and a raging sandstorm. The next morning there was a terrific dust storm, but a foot patrol set out to find their soldiers who had not returned. For a few of those missing men it was some time before their fate was confirmed. An appalling day for the close knit 2/48th.
Back home in May ’41, the Chronicle listed Percy as one of 29 wounded in action from his battalion. These included Pte. Laurence S. Baker, SX7282, Mambray Creek; Pte. Percival G. Bartholomew, SX7122, Narrung; Pte. Thomas Bell, SX8265, Snowtown; Joseph Buckley, SX8459, Albert Park, Vic; Pte. Robert W. Carvosso, SX7888, Glenelg; Pte. Ernest H. Chapman, SX7289, Koongawa; Pte. Ronald R. Collins, SX7163, Gulnare; Pte. M. G. Day. SX7434, Nairne; Pte. Harold W. Gass, SX7147, Mannum; Pte. Ronald A. Gepp, SX7884, Ashborne; Pte. Roy D. Goodes, SX6917. Cur ramulka; Pte. John Kennedy. SX7842, Adelaide; Lieut. Geoffrey D. Larkins, SX10332. St. Peters; Pte. Wilfred. J. Lewis, SX8856, Scott's Creek; Pte Henry O. Lohman. SX7771, Murray Bridge; Pte. Keith H. Pointon. SX7143. Prospect; Pte. Leonard G. Rex, SX7990, Colonel Light Gar dens; and Pte. Leonard J Rodda, SX7327, Moonta.
Percy was evacuated to Scot General Hospital, then to the New Zealand Convalescent Depot and finally to the Australian Depot. By July he was with the Infantry Trig Battalion before being able to return to the battalion’s Staging Camp at Amiriya and finally returning to the 2/48th Battalion.
A further bout of hospitalisation occurred the following year when Percy contracted tonsilitis in March ’42. However once recovered and back with his battalion, Percy’s leadership skills were recognised with his promotion to Lance Corporal at the end of August. Just two months later when he returned to his battalion, to face one of the most intense periods of the war. He was wounded in the right thigh in the fierce fighting which began at the end of October ’42 and into November when he was wounded on the 6th.
The 2/48th Battalion were exposed to ever-changing conditions and the fighting continuous. The men had prepared for the second battle of El Alamein which began on October 23rd. That month, Mongomery ordered the 9th Battalion to attack northward. This included an all-out attack on the strategically positioned Trig 29. 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.’ He added ‘At last light on the same front some three hundred enemy troops attacked, and D Company area was swept by small arms fire.’
Back home the November issue of the Chronicle carried an extensive list of the cost to the soldiers involved in Percy’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.
This injury resulted in his Percy’s third hospitalisation. He was released in time to celebrate Christmas and more importantly to leaving the Middle East in February ’43 returning to Australia via Melbourne and back to South Australia for hard-earned leave.
Unfortunately, the conditions in which he had been living and fighting were some of the contributors to Percy developing a painful collection of fluid, called a ‘Baker’s cyst’, behind his right knee which was treated over May. Training in Queensland followed, in preparation for meeting a very different enemy in the tropical conditions of New Guinea. Percy arrived in Milne Bay in August ’43 and promptly received a further promotion to Acting Corporal.
In conditions of war, soldiers frequently find humour. In Darren Paech’s Adelaide to Alamein at the end of October ‘43, the 2/48th were digging their defensive slit trenches when bullets rained through the tops of the trees, but ‘none came near enough to be dangerous’. However, when automatic fire broke out and several ‘large black shapes charged out of the jungle, making a horrible screeching noise’, it was only pigs and the firing settled down to several chuckles. The following day Ivor Paech’s diary entry for Friday 22nd October records ‘Most troops were very anxious to draw blood and were inclined to be trigger happy in the darkness. Three quarters of the company were awake at the time, and after staring into the darkness for hours, imagined they saw movement. The nervous strain was noticeable. A humorous incident happened when Corporal Baldy Bartholomew was fired upon by his Lance Corporal who thought the Japs had broken through.’
Percy was again hampered by health issues including diarrhoea, dysentery and dengue fever which all required treatment from the field ambulance. By February the following year ’44 Percy’s rank of Corporal was confirmed. With his time in New Guinea and the war concluding, he was able to return to Australia via Brisbane.
Home on leave, Percy married Everal Unice Bedford Steer on the 4th March ’44. The Advertiser carried the announcement ‘STEER—BARTHOLOMEW.—Marriage of Everil Steer, Blackwood, to Cpl. Percival Gordon Bartholomew, A.I.F., ret., M.E. and N.G., will be solemnised at the Blackwood Methodist Church, 3.30. Saturday, March 4.’
Unfortunately, Percy continued to experience frustrating health issues, including Fibrositis, (a painful inflammation of muscles and connective tissue) and sacralization of his spine as well as arthritis in his hips plus from an old chip from his earlier fracture to his left arm. In the following months he experienced a high fever, Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO) then malaria whist serving in Queensland.
Returning to South Australia, Percy’s malaria returned as did the frustrations from his hip arthritis. He and brother George had served their country with distinction and were both discharged on the 14th November ’45.
Percy’s father Robert, lived to see his sons return home from War. He had moved to live as a pensioner in East Terrace, when aged 62, in attempting to protect a woman, assaulted an older man with more vigor than necessary, pleaded "guilty to common assault under provocation" in March ’51. It was a costly act of chivalry with Robert being fined £15 for assault. This feisty father died on the 16th July ’64 and now rests in Carinya Gardens, Mount Gambier.
60-year-old Percy died on the 24th April 1970. Everal lived to be 73 and died in March ’82. The two are now both remembered in Centennial Park Cemetery with Percy being in Wall 203 J001 and Everal alongside in J002.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.