Men were ‘nine-pins in a hurricane’
By GARRY HOWE
JULY 19, 1916, was a day that never left Sergeant Clair Whiteside.
The Reverend’s son from Officer spent a large part of that...
’With God’s help, I got out of it’
Dear Mother,
On the morning of the 19th plans were given out to the NCOs, who in turn had to get their sections and grenade...
Finn was first to fight
ATOLF Akeksanter Aalto had a thirst for adventure.
The enterprising teenager left his family home in Nystad, Finland, and travelled alone to Australia to try...
Battalion belonged to a boy from Berwick
By GARRY HOWE
AS THE Great War entered its final year the 39th Battalion, made up predominantly of Victorians from the Western District, had at...
Captains lived and died together
By GARRY HOWE
THEY were best mates who enlisted together, fought side by side and died on the same day as captains leading their men...
A land of sand and sin
POPULAR Berwick footballer William Watson hated Gallipoli, yet he was one of the last to leave his trench when Anzac Cove was evacuated towards...
Mum’s plea from half a world away
THE soldiers were not the only ones doing it tough as World War I played out in Europe.
There was just as much pain, angst...
Smell of the gum leaves
The letter written by Private W. Watson to Berwick headmaster Henry McCann in August 1915:
Letters and papers are what we are always looking for...
Leckys left their mark
THEY were Officer’s brothers in arms from a pioneering family, whose battlefield deaths in France only six weeks apart rocked the small community to...
Brothers in arms and soaring spirits
ONE was a pilot who helped force down and destroy an enemy plane well over enemy lines and the other put his life on...
Teacher saw boys off to war
THE war years must have been particularly hard for Berwick State School headmaster Henry McCann.
Boys whose lives he helped shape in the schoolyard were...
Lieutenant led the way
By RUSSELL BENNETT
WHEN Lieutenant William (Donovan) Joynt, 8th Battalion, First AIF, found the men of a company of the 6th Battalion at Herleville Wood,...
People in Profile: Ensuring days end with a smile
From Officer City Soccer Club to Yakkerboo, Pakenham’s Brijal Parikh does it all, and he does it just to put smiles on faces. Gazette...
