Another Gallipoli Dawn Service viewed via satellite.
I was pretty offended that Julia Gulliard did not mention her country's ANZAC partners ONCE in her Gallipoli Dawn service speech and I am pretty sure Nathan Guy (speaking on NZ's behalf at the same service) gave Winston Peter's 2007 Gallipoli Dawn Service speech...
Some info to add to my bank of war knowledge....
- NZ also had tunnelers in WWI
- The Maori Battalion was organised along tribal lines (devastating!)
- Cassino sucked
- The Black Prince was not a ship you wanted to be on
"The light of adventure that shone so brightly in our eyes when we set out was extinguished that day.
Young men from the farms, the mines, the cities, the public schools, we died in a vast quagmire of blood and broken bodies.No one told us it would be like this."
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell
Also taking the opportunity to repost the following that I put together for ANZAC Day last year.
For me (and everyone else I know) not a glorification of war but a day of remembrance and respect for those men and women, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who suffered trauma no people should have to suffer in order that we are among the lucky people of the world who have the right to complain about things like the "glorification of war" on social media such as twitter and facebook.
While I am standing in the chill and lifting-dark of early morning at the Dawn Service I am thinking about how cold, dirty, sick, hungry, lonely, sore and scared the majority of soldiers were in that transitional time between night duties and day duties on front lines.
I also often think about the agonising unbearable unknowingness that people at home must have felt in a time before skype, satellites and high speed internet.
Not my idea of glory, that's for sure.
Thank you to those people I know of in my family who were changed immeasurably and in some cases lost their lives and futures as a consequence of war.
I do my best to remember you, especially today.
Uncle Bob Silcock 1917 - 1999
WW2 #296993
4th Brigade 20th Battalion 2nd NZEF 1939 - 1945
Uncle Bob Papps 1922 -
WW2 Navy
Uncle Les Papps 1923 - 2006
WW2 reg# 618429.
Compulsory military training. He was called to service overseas including Egypt and Japan.
Uncle Richard Papps 1931 -
Served in army in Malaysia
Uncle Jack Park 1926 -
Great Uncle Edgar Noble Papps 1908 - 1998
(My grandfather's brother)
Great Uncle Charlie Papps 1883 - 1943
(My grandfather's brother)
Great Uncle Henry (Harry) Papps 1878 - 1958
(My grandfather's brother)
Great Uncle George Samuel Papps 1874 - 1948
(My grandfather's brother)
Great Uncle Arthur Papps 1888 - 1977
(My grandfather's brother)
WW1 #33149 Lieutenant New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Wilfred Win Cozens 1888 - 1917
(His mother and my great grandmother were sisters)
WW1 18th RFMTS N.Z.E.F
Killed in action at Messines June 7 1917 aged 29 years
Allan Roy Cozens
(His mother and my great grandmother were sisters)
Embarkation. Serial No.: 6/759. Enlistment Address: Murchison, New Zealand. Canterbury Infantry Battalion
John Edwards Cozens
(His mother and my great grandmother were sisters)
Embarkation. Serial No. 6/760 WW1. Embarkation Unit:Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Great Uncle Herman Wendleborn 1896 - 1962
(My Grandmother's brother)
WW1 #7/1160; WW2
Upon enlisting in 1915, Herman stated his year of birth as 1894 to appear older and therefore be eligible for service. After being wounded at Gallipoli (head wound) and spending some time recovering in Egypt, Herman was sent home to New Zealand on 11 February 1916.
At the outbreak of WWII, Herman re-enlisted for duty with the Home Guard. He again changed his date of birth, this time to make himself seem younger (40 instead of 43). He served at Papakura Military Camp, Waiouru Military Camp, and HMNZS Devonport until his discharge on 2 January 1944.
Great Uncle Laurence Wendelborn 1893-1918
(My Grandmother's brother)
WW1 #7/291 Corporal
Laurence served in Egypt, Gallipoli and Western Europe.
His military awards included the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He was wounded in action at Gallipoli on around the 7th August 1915 and admitted to hospital on the 9th. He was discharged back to base and readmitted to hospital a few times throughout August, through September and into Dec 1915. On 13 Nov 1918 he was admitted to the Featherston Military Camp Hospital in Wellington and died on 15 November 1918, age 25.
Great Uncle Darkie Wendelborn 1884 - 1952
(My Grandmother's brother)
Clifford Wendelborn 1914-1995
(His father was my grandmother's brother)
WW2
Lance Corporal Clifford Laurence Wendelborn - serial number 16215. Clifford served as an infantryman, despatch rider, tankman and driver during WWII. He repeatedly refused promotion.
Ron Wendelborn
(His father was my grandmother's brother)
WW2 Reg #: 21111 NZ Army Corp 1939/1945
Jack Leslie Friend 1920 - 25 May 1941
(His mother and my grandmother were sisters)
WW2 reg #8378
Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF), 1st Echelon 20 Canterbury and Otago Battalion
Died of his battle wounds in Crete
Stanley James Wendelborn 1919 - 1945
(His grandfather and my 2nd great grandfather were brothers)
WW2 Gunner, New Zealand Artillery, 4 Field Regiment
Died at war - Cassino, Italy
Henry (Harry) John Windleborn 1910 - 1988
(His grandfather and my 2nd great grandfather were brothers)
WW2 Chief Petty Officer Airman
Military awards include the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star, the Pacific Star (Burma clasp), War Medal 1939-45 and the New Zealand War Service Medal.
Percy Herbert Windleburn 1885 – 1945
(His father and my great grandfather were brothers)
WW1
New Zealand Mounted Rifles, Reserve Battalion. # 80399. When he enlisted in 1918, Percy gave his birth year as 1890 rather than 1885, making it appear that he was only 28.
Lawrence (Lon) CF Windleburn 1897 – 1974
(His father and my great grandfather were brothers)
WW1 New Zealand Expeditionary Force 42nd Reinforcements D Company
Philip Edward (Tulip) Windleborn 1920 - 1990
(His great grandfather was my 2nd great grandfather)
WW2 Korean War reg # 72279 ; 207892
New Zealand Field Artillery, 29 Light Anti Aircraft Battery: Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) ; Kayforce.
Military Awards
- 1939-45 Star
- Pacific Star
- Italy Star
- Defence Medal
- War Medal 1939-45
- New Zealand War Service Medal
- Korea Medal 1950-53
- The United Nations Medal (Korea)
(stepson of my great grand uncle)
WW1 reg #: 26461 New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 14th Reinforcements New Zealand Engineers
Percival August Edward Schroder 1896 -
(Nephew of my great grand uncle - through marriage)
WW1 Reg # 35501 NZ Rifle Brigade 11th Reinforcements 4th Battalion, (H Company )
Albert Charles SCHRODER 1874 - 1929
(1st cousin of my great grand uncle - through marriage)
WW1 reg# 72861. New Zealand Expeditionary Force 37th Reinforcements C Company
Bernard Austin Schroder 1897 - 1956
(1st cousin 2x removed through the Silcocks)
WW1 reg# 25/570. NZ Rifle Brigade 3rd Battalion, C Company
Cecil Lawrence Schroder 1883 - 1968
(1st cousin 2x removed through the Silcocks)
WW1 reg# 59463 New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 31st Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Regiment, A Company
Henry James Schroder 1881 - ?
(1st cousin of my great grand uncle - through marriage)
WW1 reg#25/144 New Zealand Expeditionary Force 3rd Battalion, B Company
Arthur Charles Schwass 1905 - 1982
(His 2nd great grandmother and my 3rd Great grandmother were sisters)
WW1 reg#74550 New Zealand Expeditionary Force 40th Reinforcements E Company
Sydney Charles Schwass
(His great grandmother and my 3rd Great grandmother were sisters)
WW1 Reg# 29307 New Zealand Expeditionary Force 18th Reinforcements Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company
Lewis Henry Windleborn 1893 – 1917
(His father and my great grandfather were brothers)
WW1, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 2 Battalion, 13 Company
Polygon Wood (Polygoneveld, or Bois de Polygone), named for its shape, was a large wood near the Ypres-Menin road at Veldhoekn (north east of Ypres), Belgium.
A prominent artificial mound in the wood, called the Butte, had been used by the Belgian army as a shooting range prior to 1914. Fought over during the First Battle of Ypres in October/November 1914, it thereafter remained in German hands until Third Battle of Ypres (aka The Battle of Passchendaele) in 1917.
The NZ Division went to Polygon Wood during the winter of 1917-1918 (about October). It was a very cold winter. NZ suffered about 3000 losses during that winter in Polygon Wood. They carried out the attack on Polderhoek Chateau on the right hand side of Polygon Wood on 3 December.
On the 13 December Lewis was killed in action here.
At the end of February 1918 the NZ Division were relieved from their post.
Lest We Forget
