Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Phillip was the eldest of six sons of Walter Duncan and Olive Louise Chester Ogilvie. He was born in Adelaide on the 14th June 1913. His siblings were Jean, Stewart, Irvine, Bruce, Murray and Douglas. The family initially lived in Moe, in Victoria before moving to live at Cowell, then settling in Booberowie on a property called Caithness (in a nod to their Scottish heritage). This region in the mid-north of South Australia, is known for the quality of its sheep and farming with Walter specialising in quality lucerne crops. It was here that the children attended the local school.
Phillip was an active sportsman and worker with clubs like the Booberowie Tennis Club, helping clear and clean the courts in preparation for the summer season, bringing a dray and horses to help the effort.
Post school, Phillip became a farmer on a property he held in partnership with his younger brother, Irvine from November ‘38. This farm was next to that owned by their father.
With the outbreak of WWII, a very strong recruiting campaign was conducted for the A.I.F. with enlistment stations at nearby Burra and Clare as part of a huge drive aimed at encouraging fit young country men to join the armed forces. 25-year-old Stewart was the first of the brothers to enlist on the 27th May ‘40, at Caulfield in Victoria, hence his number being VX17601. He was allocated to the 2/12th Battalion. Older brother Phillip (SX3992) followed, enlisting just days before his 27th birthday, on the 30th May ’40 and was allocated to the 2/27th battalion. (Their younger brother, Bruce later enlisted in March ’42 as a 20-year-old. He became SX17862.)
Phillip’s early training was at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills. Pre-embarkation leave followed with Phillip returning to Booberowie where his parents hosted a social at their farm where members of the Soldiers' Farewell Committee attended to honor his service. The Burra Record reported that ‘Pte. Ogilvie is one of three brothers who have enlisted for active service abroad. The usual presentation was made, accompanied by contributions of £2 and 10/- from two anonymous donors. On behalf of the residents, members of the above committee wished Pte. Ogilvie all the luck and promised a hearty reception on his return.’ Within days Phillip was heading overseas in October ’40, arriving in the Middle East at the end of November.
A letter home to his parents was published in the January edition of the Burra Record. He explained he was “camped somewhere in Palestine at the time of writing.“ The paper explained that ‘A rather interesting feature was the meeting of the various brothers on active service. Besides Pte. Phil Ogilvie his two brothers, Gnr. Stewart Ogilvie attached to the 2/12 Field Regt. 23 Battery, and Pte. Irvine Ogilvie 2/28 Battalion although attached to different sections were delighted to know that all were camped close together and a pleasant reunion resulted at Christmas.’
Phillip’s letter showed how much parcels from home were appreciated “'Your air mail letter just missed getting to me before Xmas. We had a great day. At dinner all the officers waited on the tables, we had pork and chicken and hot plum pudding. All in our tent put in for a party that night, things were just going nicely when someone let down our tent. Then the fun started, next morning you would have thought a cyclone had struck the camp. We were also given a hamper from the Lord Mayor's Patriotic War Fund, containing a plum pudding, a big tinned fruit cake, box of cheese, tin of fruit, tin of Nestles cream, tooth brush, paste, tin of tan polish, tin of Log Cabin tobacco and paper also a pair of sox. It was a great day. Was on duty for Xmas but went to Irvine's camp on the 28th and saw him, and on the 29th Stewart arrived at our camp to see me so the three of us are all near one another.”
The farmer in him was still strong as Phillip also observed that “There is some wonderful country around here but most of it has not been put to use, the Arabs are backward, but with the Jews and refugees, think it will go ahead. The main ranges here are like those in Australia run North and South from where I was on guard, it was like looking across at the hills from home, only the ranges are higher with a great flat valley. I think it would all grow lucern, I have already seen a patch of about 10 acres, it looked beautiful. A broad tail sheep here is worth about £4, a cow £6, a good working camel £120, goat 10/-. When a sheep is killed you should just see the tail it is about 12 to 16 inches across and 6 inches thick, all fat. I walked down to the beach at Tel Aviv, the waves were just rolling in and the spray was going right over the two boats that were run aground by refugees so they could land. I could hardly see Jaffa through the spray.'
In Under eight months from landing, Phillip was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his head, being immediately evacuated to hospital. This was first reported in the July ‘41 Burra Record ‘Mr. and Mrs. Ogllvie of Booborowie, were informed that their son, Pte. Phillip Ogilvie, had been wounded in action. ... ' Mr. Ogilvie has three sons on active service.’ For the community the news was particularly felt as the announcement contained the names of other young men including Pte. Thomas A. Bruce. SX3256. Booborowie who had had enlisted in May and was killed in action. Wounded In Action Pte. Martin L. Davidson, SX2102, 2/31st, Colonel Light Gardens. Pte. Paul A. Pfeiffer, SX7242, 2/48th Berri Pte. Phillip. D. Ogilvie.SX3992. 2/27th Booborowie. And Pte. Michael. L. Hogan, SX6625. Inf., Booborowie who had enlisted on the 24 June ’40.
By December Phillip’s parents received word that he was decorated with the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in the field and was on his way home. The Burra Record was quick to report that ‘Naturally residents are elated that a Booborowie boy should receive this recognition and all join in offering congratulations, Pte. Ogilvie is at present in hospital. It is the earnest wish of all his friends that he will make a speedy recovery.’
Walter and Olive were there to meet Phillip on his return. The News reported that ‘. Pte. Ogilvie was not eager to tell how he won the Military Medal. His parents. Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Ogilvie, said however, that one of his comrades had told them in a letter that he had staged a "one-man war" and had advanced over 200 yards of open country under fire to put enemy machinegun posts out of action.’ More details continued to emerge and were proudly reported in the Burra Record.
‘During the attack on the Damour defences on July 6th, Private Ogilvie was a member of No. 7 Platoon, A Company of an infantry battalion After being held up for a considerable time by. strong machine-gun fire, the enemy was shaken by mortar fire. Seeing the enemy slightly demoralised, ... Private P.D. Ogiivie took the initiative and ran forward firing his light -machine gun from the hip. He completed the demoralisation of the enemy. On the arrival of the remainder of the Platoon, the surviving enemy surrendered without further resistance The initiative and gallantry of Pte. Ogilvie undoubtedly saved the- platoon many casualties during the operations. He continued to show the same courage until he was eventually seriously wounded in the head. Pte. Ogilvie, who is 28, is the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Ogilvie, of Booborowie, and is one of three brothers who have enlisted. Gunner Stewart Ogilvie was killed at Tobruk, and Pte. Irvine Ogilvie is now with his Unit after having been wounded at Tobruk.’
In a delightfully unexpected and personal touch, the family heard from Lance Corporal Mannion who served with Phillip. He made an ironic comment that “We are now very pleased to learn that Phil has been awarded the M.M., they were so long-winded about it we thought they must be economising on the bronze issue, but apparently they saved a bit for him.” He then explained the circumstances from a soldier’s perspective.
“'After crossing the Damour River and the fall of El Bourn, on the morning of Sunday, July 6, our platoon was sent down to clean out a machine gun post on a hill called El Atiqua. They were stronger than we suspected and gave us a warm welcome. When we moved we had to move quickly and when we were not moving at all heads were kept down to earth, believe me. We lost our officer early in the piece and were well and truly held up by enemy machine gun fire, even assistance from mortars being ineffective. Finally, we were sent around to attack the post from the right. This meant a 300 yards gallop over terraces, rocks and prickly bushes but we got there, so did the enemy's spare lead in a big way. By short, sharp dashes we got much closer to the post, but cover eventually became non-existent and we found ourselves with a couple of hundred yards of open ground to cover, under heavy fire. We paused to think about that, as you may guess but Phil had become pretty excited by this time, and decided, on a one-man war, by rushing forward with a Bren gun at the hip and calling out to the French to surrender. Now this looked like suicide to us and we called him back with loud and profane speech, but he kept going and we had to tear after him. By a strange turn of luck enemy fire ceased at this time and a couple of heads were sticking up watching. Then a mortar bomb dropped among them, and more heads appeared. By then Phil, instead of getting shot to pieces — was busy lining up a dozen prisoners when we caught up. Some others had escaped, and several had fought their last fight. We roundly abused Phil for so foolishly endangering our precious lives, but he had us stumped on that argument by the successful outcome of the action. It was certainly courageous and effective and none of us begrudge him his medal. We only hope now that he makes a speedy recovery from his wound and. gets safely home to tell you all about it in his own way. Kindest regards to Booborowie. Yours, Jim Mannion.
As a result of his injuries, Phillip was repatriated back to Australia as medically and permanently unfit for service, because of the severe nerve pain from his head injury. This caused him to be discharged on the 22nd January ’42. In the following years he met Myrtle Wood from Brompton with the two announcing their engagement in October ’44.
In a proud moment for Phillip, he and other servicemen were presented with their decorations at Government House by Sir Willoughby Norrie in February ’46. This was a special year as in April Phillip and Myrtle married at the Pirie Street Methodist Church on April 13, at 6.30 p.m. They returned to Booborowie for several years with Myrtle soon featuring in the Booberowie basketball (netball) team’s best player list Aug ’46. Their first son, Skerry Duncan, was born at the Burra Hospital in June ’48. However, by July ’50 Phillip decided to sell his farm holding he had in partnership with Irvine and the family moved to the South East where their daughter Anne Arlene was born in November ’51 and three years later, David John at the Kingston Hospital.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.