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diggerdave
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Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
With the media's recent attention focussed on the finding of a possible mass grave containing the remains of two hundred and fifty Australians killed at Fromelles in July 1916, I sent out media releases to the regional newspapers in the Hunter Valley, raising their awareness that fifty nine Hunter Valley men were killed at Fromelles, and fifty two of them had no known grave, making it possible that one or more of these missing men's remains may be in the mass grave.
Following is the media release I sent to 'The 'Maitland Mercury' newspaper:
Tuesday 22 July 2003
'Fromelles Mass Grave May Contain Hunter Valley Fallen'
The recently discovered mass grave in northern France in which hundreds of missing Australian World War One soldiers are believed to be buried, may contain the remains of Hunter Valley men who were killed at Fromelles in July 1916, according to Newcastle-based military historian David Dial.
"More than one thousand Hunter Valley men fought at Fromelles with the Australian Imperial Force's 30th, 31st, 53rd, 54th, 55th and 56th Infantry Battalions," Mr Dial said.
"Fifty nine of them were either killed in action or died from wounds, with others being captured by the Germans and seeing out the remainder of the war as POW's in Germany," he added.
"Fifty two of the Hunter Valley fallen have no known grave and their names are listed, along with the names of 1,246 other Australian soldiers whose graves are not known, on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, in the VC Corner Cemetery, 2 kms north-west of Fromelles."
Five Maitland and district men are among the missing. Their names and enlistment details are:
Pte Harold John Bourke, 30th Inf Bn, 21, Labourer, West Maitland, KIA 20-07-16
Pte Woodley Cole Easom, 60th Inf Bn, 22, Grazier, West Maitland, KIA 19-07-16
Pte Charles Gordon McDonald, 31st Inf Bn, 26, Grocer, Lorn, KIA 19-20-07-16
Pte John Cyril Wynn, 30th Inf Bn, 19, Labourer, Largs, KIA 20-07-16
Pte Claude Yeo, 30th Inf Bn, 39, Auctioneer, West Maitland, KIA 20-07-16
The details of the above five men published in 'The 'Maitland Mercury' appeared as:
Pte Harold John Bourke - 1682. 22 year old railway employee from West Maitland.
Pte Woodley Cole Easom - 4771. 22 year old grocer from Lorn.
Pte Charles Gordon McDonald - 2160. 27 year old warehouseman from Mt Pleasant Street, Maitland.
Pte John Cyril Wynn - 2485. 19 year old labourer from Largs.
Pte Claud Yeo - 795. 39 year old auctioneer from West Maitland.
Somehow, Bourke became a railway employee
Easom became a grocer from Lorn, and
McDonald became a warehouseman from Maitland
How do you think this distortion of the facts occurred?
Well, you see 'The Maitland Mercury' newspaper took the word of the local RSL Sub-Branch's self-appointed 'military historian' who obtained some of his information from the Internet and the rest he obviously made up, over my thoroughly researched information obtained from embarkation rolls and other 'official' records.
More to follow about the Fromelles mass grave and my theories on a few matters concerning same.
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8/6/2003, 12:40 am
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ghosken
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Lucky it wasn't the Dubbo Daily Liberal, David. They would have made it a different war.
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8/6/2003, 4:38 pm
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saint54
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
I live in the Hunter area and my grandfather was wounded at Fromelles with the 54th Bn. How the Maitland Mercury can distort the information supplied by David Dial to such an extent is beyond me. Although I have sometimes disagreed with some of David's statements his passion and accuracy is above question. That they went to another so called 'expert' and changed David's press release is an insult to a man who has dedicated his life to the rembrance of the Digger.Besides imcompetance there may be other motives?
Ross
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8/6/2003, 6:48 pm
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diggerdave
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Ross: the statements which I have made in the past twenty or so years and you have disagreed on, were they 'spoken' or 'written'?
I whole heartedly apologise for any past wrong doings on my part. Have we met before?
And, only today in 'The Lake Macquarie News', I was misquoted again, this time there being "more than 100,000 Hunter Valley men" when my media release stated 'one thousand', and the Fromelles battle was in "July 1926", not July 1916.
In regards to the Maitland affair, I believe there are 'other motives.'
Good luck with your 54th Battalion work. If there is anything I can be of assistance with, let me know, okay?
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8/6/2003, 11:46 pm
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ghosken
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
100 000!! Where do they find these journalists?? Do they ever stop to (a) read (b) think?? Why does a newspaper take a concise, well-worded article (for which they have paid nothing) and stuff it up?
Graeme
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8/6/2003, 11:57 pm
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saint54
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Dave
Mate sorry if I sounded a bit harsh. I have always respected your work and your devotion. The ONLY time I couldn't totally agree with you was the letter you wrote to NMH about awarding the VC to Simpson and a few others from WW1 and WW2. My opinion is that these fine men and probably many more deserved the VC at the time, but I feel to award it now would de-value the award. We can all cite actions that went unrecognized [eg Arblaster, Gibbons at Fromelles]. Sorry mate but I just feel to award a VC 90 years after the event would open a pandora's box of applications and make the VC itself less valuable. I know many don't agree with my view and I am fine with that - if we all had the same opinions we'd be a boring lot.
Yes Dave we met once - about 10 years ago. I live in Merewether and I was selling a few items of militaria to pay an unexpected tax bill.
My 54th history is going well but slowly. I'm up to Peronne. Via Graeme Hoskens and Alan Kitchen at the FFFAIF I have applied for a DVA grant to help me with photo copying and production of the final draft.
Ross
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8/7/2003, 7:18 am
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diggerdave
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
G'day to you, Ross.
The letter to the NMH (Newcastle Morning Herald) was in response to the petition being organised by the local Labor member for Shortland, Jill Hall, in regard to a posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to Simpson. I was not in favour of this myself, and the substance of my letter was to suggest that the member for Shortland 'go in to bat' for two Hunter Valley men who were nominated for the VC but were never awarded it, namely Trooper Tom Morris of the NSW Lancers, from up near Singleton, for bravery in the field near Arundel in December of 1899 during the South African Boer War and Sgt Joseph Henry Mitchell of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company during World War One.
Good luck with the funding from the DVA. They use to only give a maximum of $3000.00 and I believe they now only consider unpublished unit histories for possible funding.
The story of Ralph Scobie DCM of the 10th Reinf 54th Infantry Battalion is a good one. Ralph only died about four or five years ago and it is 88 years today (7 August 2003) that his uncle, Lieut-Colonel Robert Scobie was killed at Lone Pine in 1915.
Best regards from diggerdave.
'Look back and honour the past.'
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8/7/2003, 10:25 pm
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saint54
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Gday Dave
I tried to contact Ralph Scobie in 1996. His son replied to my letter saying Mr Scobie was too ill to have visitors. I have since paid for a copy of a tape he made in 1987, recording his memoirs. Unfortunately he doesn't mention his famous and gallant uncle. Also being a very modest and humble man he doesnt mention the specifics of his work at Peronne which led to his DCM. I am assuming he would have been the last survivor of the 54th. You dont know exactly when he died do you?
Cheers mate
Ross
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8/8/2003, 7:25 am
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diggerdave
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Ross, I believe that Ralph Scobie may have been the last living 'decorated' man recorded in Bean's Official History of Australia series.
I will have to get back to you in regard to his date of death. From memory, he was also a Major in World War Two.
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8/10/2003, 6:04 pm
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Madras19
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Re: Hunter Valley Missing at Fromelles 19-20 July 1916.
Dup
Last edited by Madras19, 8/10/2003, 9:58 pm
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8/10/2003, 9:51 pm
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