The anzac on the wall.

[Captain Kong]

My Aussie ex Army mate in Queensland has just sent me this verY poignant poem.
.
. THE ANZAC ON THE WALL.
.

I wanderer thru a country town, 'cos I had some time to spare,
And went into an antique shop to see what was in there.
Old Bikes and pumps and kero lamps, but hidden by it all,
A photo of a soldier boy - an Anzac on the Wall.

"The Anzac have a name?" I asked. The old man answered "No,.
The ones who could have told me mate, have passed on long ago.
The old man kept on talking and, according to his tale,
The photo was unwanted junk bought from a clearance sale.

"I asked around," the old man said, "but no one knows his face,
He's been on that wall twenty years... deserves a better place.
For some one must have loved him, so it seems a shame somehow."
I nodded in agreement and then said, "I'll take him now."

My nameless digger's photo, well it was a sorry sight
A cracked glass pane and a broken frame - I had to make it right
To prise the photo from its frame I took care just in case,
Cause only sticky paper held the cardboard back in place.

I peeled away the faded screed and much to my surprise,
Two letters and a telegram appeared before my eyes
The first reveals my Anzac's name, and regiment of course
John Mathew Francis Stuart - of Australia 's own Light Horse.

This letter written from the front... my interest now was keen
This note was dated August seventh 1917
"Dear Mum, I'm at Khalasa Springs not far from the Red Sea
They say it's in the Bible - looks like a Billabong to me.

"My Kathy wrote I'm in her prayers... she's still my bride to be
I just cant wait to see you both, you're all the world to me
And Mum you'll soon meet Bluey, last month they shipped him out
I told him to call on you when he's up and about."

"That bluey is a larrikin, and we all thought it funny
He lobbed a Turkish hand grenade into the Co's dunny.
I told you how he dragged me wounded, in from no man's land
He stopped the bleeding closed the wound with only his bare hand."

"Then he copped it at the front from some stray shrapnel blast
It was my turn to drag him in and I thought he wouldn't last.
He woke up in hospital, and nearly lost his mind
Cause out there on the battlefield he'd left one leg behind."

"He's been in a bad way Mum, he knows he'll ride no more
Like me he loves a horse's back, he was a champ before.
So Please Mum can you take him in, he's been like my own brother
Raised in a Queensland orphanage he' s never known a mother."

But Struth, I miss Australia Mum, and in my mind each day
I am a mountain cattleman on high plains far away.
I'm mustering white-faced cattle, with no camel's hump in sight
And I waltz my Matilda by a campfire every night

I wonder who rides Billy, I heard the pub burnt down
I'll always love you and please say hooroo to all in town".
The second letter I could see, was in a lady's hand
An answer to her soldier son there in a foreign land.

Her copperplate was perfect, the pages neat and clean
It bore the date, November 3rd 1917.
"T'was hard enough to lose your Dad, without you at the war
I'd hoped you would be home by now - each day I miss you more"

"Your Kathy calls around a lot since you have been away
To share with me her hopes and dreams about your wedding day.
And Bluey has arrived - and what a godsend he has been
We talked and laughed for days about the things you've done and seen"

"He really is a comfort, and works hard around the farm,
I read the same hope in his eyes that you won't come to harm.
Mc Connell's kids rode Billy, but suddenly that changed.
We had a violent lightning storm, and it was really strange."

"Last Wednesday, just on midnight, not a single cloud in sight,
It raged for several minutes, it gave us all a fright.
It really spooked your Billy - and he screamed and bucked and reared
And then he rushed the sliprail fence, which by a foot he cleared"

"They brought him back next afternoon, but something's changed I fear
It's like the day you brought him home, for no one can get near.
Remember when you caught him with his black and flowing mane?
Now Horse breakers fear the beast that only you can tame,"

"That's why we need you home son" - then the flow of ink went dry-
This letter was unfinished, and I couldn't work out why.
Until I started reading, the letter number three
A yellow telegram delivered news of tragedy,

Her son killed in action - oh - what pain that must have been
The Same date as her letter - 3rd November 17
This letter which was never sent, became then one of three
She sealed behind the photo's face - the face she longed to see.

And John's home town's old timers - children when he went to war
Would say no greater cattleman had left the town before.
They knew his widowed mother well - and with respect did tell
How when she lost her only boy she lost her mind as well.

She could not face the awful truth, to strangers she would speak
"My Johnny's at the war you know, he's coming home next week."
They all remembered Bluey he stayed on to the end.
A younger man with wooden leg became her closest friend.

And he would go and find her when she wandered old and weak
And always softly say "yes dear - John will be home next week."
Then when she died Bluey moved on, to Queensland some did say.
I tried to find out where he went, but don't know to this day.

And Kathy never wed - a lonely spinster some found odd.
She wouldn't set foot in a church - she'd turned her back on God.
John's mother left no Will I learned on my detective trail.
This explains my photo's journey, of that clearance sale.

So I continued digging, cause I wanted to know more.
I found John's name with thousands, in the records of the war.
His last ride proved his courage - a ride you will acclaim
The Light Horse Charge at Beersheba of everlasting fame.
That last day in October back in 1917
At 4pm our brave boys fell - that sad fact I did glean.
That's when John's life was sacrificed, the record's crystal clear
But 4pm in Beersheba is midnight over here......

So as John's gallant sprit rose to cross the great divide,
Were lightning bolts back home, a signal from the other side?
Is that why Billy bolted and went racing as in pain?
Because he'd never feel his master on his back again?

Was it coincidental? same time - same day - same date?
Some proof of numerology, or just a quirk of fate?
I think it's more than that you know, as I've heard wiser men,
Acknowledge there are many things that go beyond our ken

Where craggy peaks guard secrets neath dark skies torn asunder,
Where hoofbeats are companions to the rolling waves of thunder
Where lightning cracks like 303's and ricochets again
Where howling moaning gusts of wind sound just like dying men

Some Mountain cattlemen have sworn on lonely alpine track,
They've glimpsed a huge black stallion - Light Horseman on his back.
Yes Sceptics say, it's swirling clouds just forming apparitions
Oh no, my friend you can't dismiss all this as superstition.

The desert of Beersheba - or windswept Aussie range,
John Stuart rides on forever there - Now I don't find that all strange.
Now some gaze upon this photo, and they often question me
And I tell them a small white lie, and say he's family.

"You must be proud of him." they say - I tell them, one and all,
That's why he takes - the pride of place - my Anzac on the Wall.
.
THE ANZAC
ANONYMOUS
(Ex-AWM)

[Stan Carter]

that's a very powerful poem, I don't think I have read anything quite that touching.
regards, stan

[Doc Vernon]

Just Ditto from me too Capt!
Cheers

[Captain Kong]

I have a fondness, for the Aussie Army, I took the 2RAR to Malaya in 1955 on the Georgic from Sydney, and made a lot of mates amongst the 10 who used to drink in my cabin. This is when the Malaya Campaign was on. out of the ten, two were killed in Malaya. I met some two years later in Brisbane and they told me the story.
They fought and died in wars for Britain and our successive governments kicked them in the teeth and now trade with the enemy
Cheers
Brian.

[j.sabourn]

Brian when we first came here to live, there were quite a few differences in this country compared with the uk. One of which was the way the ex forces personnel were treated. After living here 22 years we take them for granted and it is only when you read certain articles in papers etc. of how ex personnel are treated in uk that one realizes at least one of the advantages living in this country. Our ex. troops here receive certain advantages re monetary gain and are looked up to and not down. On Anzac day and other memorials you can see the grandchildren of some of these old timers who are proud to stand up for their way of life. We haven't yet reached the stage where it is an affront to fly the national flag, as is objectable to other nationalities, and may it never come. Cheers John Sabourn

[Richard Quartermaine]

This is new to me Brian and thank you so much for sharing it with us. Margaret and my grandson, Chris is in the Australian Army in Darwin and is on 24 hours notice for 'wherever'. Last Christmas he was on leave and gave me the Army "Brown Slouch Hat With The Side Turned Up" as my present from him. We are, and our daughter and son-in law are so proud of him.
Richard

(A Brown Slouch Hat)

It's a Brown Slouch Hat with the side turned up,
And it means the world to me.
It's the symbol of our Nation,
The land of liberty,
And the soldiers they wear it,
How proudly they bear it
For all the world to see.
Just a brown slouch hat with the side turned up,
Heading straight for victory.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Richard ,
good on yer. I tried to get one of those from the Guys on the GEORGIC. but there was no way they would give me one.
I guess they are something really Special.

If theres a life that follers this
if theres a Golden Gate,
the only words I want to here
is, `Good on yer Mate.`

That is all I got from them.

[alf corbyn]

hi brian. I liked that poem very much. it described how mothers felt for lost sons and was very sad

[j.sabourn]

We remember and put things in a different light. I remember my old man when he came home from Burma after the cessations with Japan, arrived in his Jungle khakis and slouch hat with brim up at side, he must have got it of some Aussie maybe. This hat kicked around my mothers house for years together with a stock whip, whatever happened to them I wouldn't know, however wish I had taken more interest at the time. It was a week or so before he was issued with his demob suit. I do remember him telling me however before arrival in UK on troopship they were told that duty would have to be paid on all the knick Knacks the troops had accumulated and most of their souvenirs were thrown over the side before arrival. Even in those days officialdom was there to call the tune. Cheers John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

Looking at some of the photos of the day and seeing the men who returned in their Demob suits makes me ask the question, who made them and did every returning serviceman get one. Did the ladies who served get any??