All the brothers and all the sons

The Weekend Australian ^ | 23rd February 2008 | Mark Day

[naturalman1975]

BETWEEN 1914 and 1918, when Australia's population was barely four million, 416,809 citizens answered Britain's call and enlisted for service in World War I. That included nearly 40 per cent of the male population aged between 18 and 44.

Almost two-thirds of them became casualties of that hellish conflict. The figures are staggering: 58,961 died; 166,811 were wounded; and 4098 went missing or were taken prisoner. A further 87,865 suffered ongoing sickness from the effects of mustard gas and other frightful weapons. To give these numbers context, Australia's road toll today, with our population five times larger, is a little more than 1600 a year.

Scarcely a family in the land escaped the terrible effects of the war to end all wars. But some families paid a higher price than others.

Take the Singles of Castlereagh, NSW. Thirty-three descendants of grazier John Single volunteered for service. Nine were killed, three of them on the same day.

And the Leanes of Prospect in Adelaide: 11 served; four died. Or the Keids of Graceville, Queensland: six joined up; four died. Or the Howell-Prices of Waterloo, Sydney: six enlisted; three died. Or the Bartrams of Richmond, Victoria: four served; three died. There were the Seabrook brothers. Together, Theo, William and George Seabrook went into the battle for Menin road, near Ypres, in Belgium, on September 20, 1917. All three were mortally wounded and died within days.

It is said Australia lost the flower of its youth in World War I. Some families lost everything.

[2banana]

BETWEEN 1914 and 1918, when Australia's population was barely four million, 416,809 citizens answered Britain's call and enlisted for service in World War I. That included nearly 40 per cent of the male population aged between 18 and 44.

Almost two-thirds of them became casualties of that hellish conflict. The figures are staggering: 58,961 died; 166,811 were wounded; and 4098 went missing or were taken prisoner. A further 87,865 suffered ongoing sickness from the effects of mustard gas and other frightful weapons. To give these numbers context, Australia's road toll today, with our population five times larger, is a little more than 1600 a year.

And yet the fear of the cult of islam will make their grandsons slaves and shake in their boots?

[naturalman1975]

Thank god, not all of them - but it can’t be denied, people today, in general, are far less willing to sacrifice for their society.

[AnAmericanMother]

Dancing at Whitsun

It's fifty long springtimes since she was a bride
But still you may see her at each Whitsuntide
In a dress of white linen and ribbons of green
As green as her memories of loving

The feet that were nimble tread carefully now
As gentle a measure as age will allow
Through groves of white blossom by fields of young corn
Where once she was pledged to her true love

The fields they stand empty, the hedges grow free
No young men to tend them or pastures go see
They have gone where the forests of oak trees before
Have gone to be wasted in battle

Down from the green farmlands and from their loved ones
Marched husbands and brothers and fathers and sons
There's a fine roll of honour where the maypole once stood
And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun

There's a straight row of houses in these latter days
Are covering the downs where the sheep used to graze
There's a field of red poppies, a wreath from the Queen
But the ladies remember at Whitsun

[Little Bill]

My Grand Father (Canada) was out fishing when war was declared. He, according to his story, came back in and enlisted in the Canadian Scottish, he was Irish, lured by the free Rum issue promised by a recruiter, he said he was drunk at the time and wanted to continue in that state as long as possible.

My Great Uncle, his younger brother, enlisted in the New Foundland Regiment not knowing that it was a British Regiment and came away thinking that the Limies knew nothing about Food, Tea, and Canadians.

I loved taking them to their favorite watering hole, the Polish Club, buying the beer and listening to the stories, when I got back from the Nam.

[SF Republican]

My wife is French and we visit these little villages over there that lost every man between 18-50 during WWI (her great-grandfather never saw his son) - it is not too hard to imagine why those that survived were not excited about doing it again 20 years later.

[Oztrich Boy]

Bite me!

Just because you yanks only discovered that the paynim did not love you on 9/11, doen't mean the rest of the world needs to follow you to the irrational level of fear and loathing you find necessary

[MuttTheHoople]

Different countries learned different lessons from WW I. French and English learned war was so horrible, it should be avoided at all costs. Germans believed war was so horrible, it should be learned in a different way so as to win the next time.

[SuziQ]

I love that song. It makes me weepy, like listening to Eric Bogle’s “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”.

[AnAmericanMother]

It's sentimental . . . but hey, sometimes I feel sentimental!

It is sobering to see the toll WWI took on Britain. We were in the tiny little Highland village of Aberfeldy (where the Black Watch was originally raised back in the early 18th century), and the War Memorial has probably a couple of hundred names on it from WWI . . . and only a handful from WWII. There was nobody left to go.

My grandfather was commissioned a 2nd Lt. of engineers out of Ga. Tech (the whole class was in uniform) but hadn't even gone overseas when the Armistice was signed.

[SuziQ]

SirKit's Grandaddy drove an ambulance in France in WWI. He had learned to cut hair while in college, so he did that to make some extra money while overseas. When he came home, he opened his own barber shop which he owned well into his 80's. SirKit's Dad was a Drill Sargeant in WWII, and would have been sent to the Pacific, if we'd had to invade Japan.

I don't think either of my grandfathers served in the military in WWI. My paternal grandfather died when my Dad was only about 9 or 10, and since Daddy was one of the youngest in the family, his Dad would have been too old for WWI, and didn't live to see WWII. My maternal grandfather was too old for both wars, and he died in 1950, so I never knew him either.

[AnAmericanMother]

My paternal grandfather died in 1934, when my daddy (the youngest child) was 10. Granpa 'Gee was a little too old for WWI, I think he was already in his 30s by 1918. My maternal grandfather was considerably younger and graduated from GA Tech that year. He wound up going to work for Westinghouse Electric and stayed with them until he retired some time in the 50s.

My father was going to be drafted for WWII but beat them to the punch and enlisted. He was in the Combat Engineers and served in N. Africa and Italy. His only claim to fame is that his company was once bombed and strafed accidentally by the Tuskegee Airmen. That, and he took the surrender of an entire German Army Group because he was the first American officer they ran across. And also an Italian general, who made Dad wait while he changed into his best dress uniform and all his decorations to surrender in.

He also had his orders to head to the Pacific when Truman dropped the bomb. My father in law was in the Signal Corps in the Pacific - Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo, and his orders were cut for the invasion of mainland Japan when the big one went up . . . much to his relief (and mine!) He and his jeep were blown up on Iwo, but he landed on his feet without a scratch.