BLOG: WWI Mementos of our Grandfathers

Remembering Harold Lilja: his father, my grandfather in Week Fifty Two

28/1/2018

Because my maternal grandparents separated in 1930 I never knew my grandfather Harold Lilja. This was instrumental in my dedicating a year to finding out more about him, his war service, and his life. And to finding out more about my paternal grandfather John Mitchell’s war service also.

As I have now arrived at the end of my project I am happy to say I have reconnected with Harold’s second family and with part of my grandfather John Mitchell’s Scottish family.

Meet Tony (Anthony) Lilja, Harold’s son to his second wife Mary Patricia. Tony is my mother’s half-brother, and my half-uncle. It is Tony who shared his father’s WWI 34th Battalion diary with me and photos and a painting of my grandfather. Tony is pictured here with his father’s WWI and WWII medal ribbon bar and the WWI Victory medal, and WWII medals.

Tony’s fondest memory of his father is going up to their weekender cabin on Scotland Island on Pittwater where they would often fish off the sundeck. He said it took 1.5 hours on the bus and then the ferry ride to get there. He was about thirteen at the time. Tony said it was also the place where Harold would go sometimes when he separated for periods from his second wife, Tony’s mother.

I asked Tony if Harold ever spoke about his WWI experiences and he said “never” except when he had his breakdowns, then he would talk a bit. And he confirmed that Harold had spent several periods in Callan Park Mental Hospital. Tony too has visited the Western Front battlefields to honour his father’s service.

To date I have searched in vain for more information on my other grandfather, John Mitchell’s WWI service. There were so many John Mitchells in the Royal Scottish Regiment. But thanks to an Ancestry.com subscription Christmas present from my daughter I am starting to narrow down this search.

After I did an Ancestry DNA test Scott Mitchell Muir, a grandson of John’s youngest Scottish brother Alexander has found me. John’s youngest siblings were put into an orphan’s home after their mother died in 1914. Scott lives in England but sadly has no further information on John but is very happy to have found his Mitchell family in Australia!

I have never been to Scotland Island….so I am off to visit it right now!
Lest we forget!

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WWI Shell Shock & Callan Park

21/1/2018

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Stelios outside 'H' Ward Callan Park Mental Hospital, Rozelle where he studied in 2004

Whilst working on this WWI centenary project I have been surprised by how few ‘degrees of separation’ there appear to be between some of the stories. For example, the link between Sydney Legacy and where I live (Week 32), and between the Schwenke family property at Gilgai and my mother’s hidden past (Week 49).

As I near the end of my year pledged to seeking out WWI stories honouring our grandfathers’ service, I want to talk about “shell shock”, what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. And another coincidental connection between my partner Stelios’ nursing training and my grandfather Harold Lilja.

In 2004 as part of his Enrolled Nurse Certificate IV qualification, Stelios undertook mental health training at ‘H’ Ward, Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital, often simply referred to as Callan Park. One of his colleagues was assigned to the adjacent ‘A’ Ward, dedicated to ex-military personnel. Stelios heard stories of how these veterans, many now very old men, would still refer to each other by rank, would still want to march up and down the ward, and say things like “straighten up sergeant”. He did another rotation through ‘H’ ward at Callan Park when he completed his Nursing Degree in 2006, when only a few patients were left just before the hospital formally closed in 2007.

In 2017 I applied to receive a copy of my grandfather’s WWII service record. Imagine my surprise when I received the copy and found a transcript of a letter dated 3 May 1983 from the then Minister for Defence, Kim Beazley, addressed to Harold at ‘A’ Ward Rozelle Hospital!

Harold was then 89 years old and suffering some form of mental illness had been admitted to the hospital where he wrote a letter on 7 March 1983 requesting formal recognition for his gallantry during WWI more than 65 years earlier. He died later the same year. Presumably his experiences on the Western Front had never left him.

Did shell shock during WWI contribute to later episodes of mental illness? Did it contribute to the break-up of his first marriage to my grandmother Beryl?

According to Wikipedia the term “shell shock” came into use in WWI to describe the effect on soldiers of the intensity of bombardment and fighting that produced a “helplessness appearing variously as panic and being scared, or flight, an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk”. War correspondent Phillip Gibbs wrote of shell shock:

Something was wrong. They put on civilian clothes again and looked to their mothers and wives very much like the young men who had gone to business in the peaceful days before August 1914. But they had not come back the same men. Something had altered in them. They were subject to sudden moods, and queer tempers, fits of profound depression alternating with a restless desire for pleasure. Many were easily moved to passion where they lost control of themselves, many were bitter in their speech, violent in opinion, frightening.

It seems that the concept of shell shock was variously interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury, or simply as a lack of moral fibre. It has been identified as the signature injury of WWI, with as many as 40% of the casualties from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 suffering from shell shock.

Even though the number of cases grew it remained poorly understood medically and psychologically, with some doctors believing it was the result of hidden physical damage to the brain, with shock waves from bursting shells creating a cerebral lesion that caused symptoms; and an alternative view being that shell shock was an emotional, rather than a physical, injury. Although the Battle of Passchendaele “generally became a byword for horror”, by 1917 the British Army had developed methods to reduce shell shock by giving a few days’ rest to men who started to show shell-shock symptoms. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, during 1917 shell shock was “entirely banned as a diagnosis in the British Army, and mentions of it were censored, even in medical journals.”

Nevertheless, again from Wikipedia: “There were so many officers and men suffering from shell shock that 19 British military hospitals were wholly devoted to the treatment of cases. Ten years after the war, 65,000 veterans of the war were still receiving treatment for it in Britain. In France it was possible to visit aged shell shock victims in hospital in 1960.

Recent research by Johns Hopkins University has found that the brain tissue of combat veterans who have been exposed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exhibit a pattern of injury in the areas responsible for decision making, memory and reasoning. This evidence has led the researchers to conclude that shell shock may not only be a psychological disorder, since the symptoms exhibited by sufferers from the first world war are very similar to these injuries”.

For more information on shell shock visit Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock

According to State Archives and Records: “Situated adjacent to Callan Park Mental Hospital, No 13 Auxiliary Military Hospital, Broughton Hall was used from 1915 for the treatment of returned soldiers suffering from shell shock and other nervous disorders. The hospital was supervised by two medical officers from the Department of the Inspector General of the Insane, but was administered by the Australian Army Medical Corps. In this way military powers of detention could be used if necessary, instead of burdening returned soldiers with certification and its associated stigma.”

Since the closure of Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital in 2007, many of the unoccupied buildings and the heritage gardens are undergoing demolition by neglect. For more information on Callan Park and its history, go to: http://www.callanpark.com/

According to the Department of Defence website: All Australians, including ADF members, have the potential to be exposed to traumas that may contribute to the development of PTSD. However the rates of both military and non-military related traumas are higher in the ADF than in the Australian community. From the findings of the 2010 ADF Mental Health Prevalence and Wellbeing Study, it has been estimated that 90% of ADF members have experienced at least one potentially traumatic event at some time in their life, compared to 73% of an age and employment matched sample of the Australian community.

It is estimated that approximately 8.3% of ADF members will have experienced PTSD in the last 12 months, which is significantly higher than in the Australian community (5.2%). In particular, ADF males report a greater rate of PTSD compared with the general community (8.1% versus 4.6%).

For more information on post-traumatic stress disorder, its symptoms and treatment visit these websites:
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/types-of-anxiety/ptsd
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/clinical-resources/post-traumatic-stress-disorder

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Legacy Australia CEO remembers Harry Buckman: Week Fifty One

14/1/2018

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In 2014 I wrote a letter to Legacy Australia’s new CEO Jenny Walker about my grandfather Harold’s WWI service and connection to Legacy’s early days in Melbourne. Because my employer was a major Legacy sponsor I was able to hand deliver the letter to Jenny at the Legacy Week launch ceremony in Martin Place. Here is an excerpt from Jenny’s reply to me:

I have taken a while to respond to your letter as I wanted to give it the attention it deserved and it has sat here on my desk waiting for me to get the right moment to open it again and savour the contents.

As soon as I read the first paragraph on 1 September I knew we had much in common. My grandfather also served in WWI, originally enlisting in 36th Battalion and was wounded in the Somme on 15 December 1916, and suffered badly from significant physical and psychological injuries for the rest of his life. He also enlisted again in WWII. Ironically his name was Harold and his first marriage also fell apart shortly after WWI.

In 2013 I travelled with a group to the Western front Battlefields and stood in the place where pop fought and was so damaged. It was a deeply moving trip and I list it right up there with the significant moments of my life. I look forward to the opportunity to travel back to the Somme in 2016 for the centenary of that awful battle that created so many young Legacy wards.

My grandmother, Ada, was a governess and nurse and married Harold around 1928 at the height of the Great Depression. Both Harold and Ada lived long lives and we had the joy of knowing them both. Harold was a lovely but difficult man who liked his drinking and smoking in spite of the detrimental effects on his health and I can vividly recall Grandma’s answer to my older sister when she asked why Gran had put up with him. The answer was that ‘he was a wounded and sick soldier who needed looking after’.

That sense of responsibility to those who served in the Great War is what gave rise to organisations such as Legacy and your grandfather would have personally known our founder Stan Savige who started the first Legacy Club here in Melbourne in 1923. Stan was Club President in 1929 so no doubt your grandfather would have worked closely with him in those days.”

Jenny referred me to a book called ‘Somme Mud’ which gives a graphic description of life on the battlefield for our grandfathers. Jenny “found it to be a useful insight to what he would have endured as he never spoke of the war or marched in an Anzac Day march. Indeed when I told pop I was going to join the Army Reserve he was aghast but I went ahead and did it anyway. I’m glad I did. That decision put my life on the path that led me to Legacy and I am so proud to be part of an organisation that cares so much for the families of those who served and will never abandon them.”

Jenny joined the Army Reserve at age 27 and served for 16 years reaching the rank of Major.

Harry Albury Buckman, was born at Bowraville near Nambucca Heads on 13 May 1897. He enlisted on 31 January 1916 just short of his 19th birthday. Harry was severely wounded during fighting on the Somme by gunshot wounds to the face and back which led to him being shipped home and discharged as medically unfit for duty 27 October 1917. He worked as a fettler on the railways after the war. When WWII broke out Harry moved his wife and five young children to Sydney so that he could enlist and serve again on home soil. He was promoted to Sergeant.

When he died on 1 September 1982 Harry’s ashes were buried in the place he loved on the headland overlooking Nambucca Heads. A painting of the view from the same place is one of Jenny’s most treasured mementoes of her grandfather.

Lest we forget!

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A Cricket Club at War: Week Fifty

11/1/2018

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In mid-2015 I was contacted by Paul Stephenson who had done a google search on my grandfather Harold Lilja’s name and found me via this website. At the time Paul was writing a book on all the members of the Gordon District Cricket Club who had served in WWI. It turns out that Harold had played for Gordon over four seasons from 1909 until 1913, starting at age 15.

According to Club records provided by Paul Harold made eighteen appearances in third grade for a total of 16 wickets. Not knowing much about cricket myself I don’t understand the meaning of the statistics but Paul has concluded that Harold was probably a career No. 11, whose bowling was his strength.

As the Club was only founded in 1905 Paul says that Harold was still very much a part of the young club, and that his limited games probably meant he would have made himself available when needed by the club.

Gordon District Cricket Club has a proud history and has participated in the main Sydney Grade Cricket competition. Gordon has won the club championship four times and the first grade premiership on six occasions. According to their website, as well as its premiership successes, Gordon has produced a long list of representative players – including 19 Australian representatives and 37 NSW players. Amongst these are some of the greatest names in Australian cricket - Charlie McCartney, Victor Trumper, Bert Oldfield, Neil Harvey and Brian Taber.

Paul published his book A Cricket Club at War in November 2015 and in the overview states: “From its first game in 1905 to the outbreak of the war in August 1914, the club had registered 152 players. Within two years of the start of the war, fifty-two of those players had enlisted with the AIF…..From Test cricketers to part-time lower grade players, there was no differentiation. If you were within the age bracket and met the fitness requirements, you were expected and indeed encouraged to enlist.”

Paul has spent years researching the stories of these brave young men and has woven a marvellous story of the fate of the 52 club members who risked their lives for ‘God, King and Country’ and intermixed cricket analogies into their service histories. The men from Gordon Cricket Club served in all the major campaigns of WWI and “although the majority would return, many would never play cricket again due to their injuries”. In fact seven club members were killed in action or died of wounds.

When describing the club’s experiences in the disaster of the Battle of Passchendaele here is what Gordon cricketer Johnnie Moyes’ 48th battalion diary said “almost every man who showed himself became a casualty”. This is of course the battle where my grandfather was wounded, and this is what Paul had to say about him:

“Also in the battle, in the 34th battalion (9th Brigade), was the latest in the long line of Gordon recruits. Harold Wyndham Lilja was a twenty-three year old public accountant who lived at Nyara in Neridah Street, Chatswood….Harold had passed the Bankers Institute of NSW examination at the University of Sydney and had also gone to Officer’s School at Duntroon, obtaining a 1st Class pass. He had enlisted in November 1915 but only left for overseas on 17 November 1916 a year later.

After his arrival, Harold had spent time training at the AIF School in March and April 1917 beofre being sent to the front line in time for the Battle of Passchendaele. As he lined up with the rest of his battalion at 5.25am, looking ahead at the wind, rain and mud, he would have wondered what the training had all been for as this was not in the manual. On that day, Harold was severely concussed and taken to the field ambulance station, and possibly treated by Dr Gother Clarke [another Gordon Club member] who was on duty. Sadly Dr Clarke was killed that same day at Passchendaele when hit by a shell while treating another wounded soldier near the tent.

According to Paul’s research my grandfather lived on Scotland Island on Pittwater for a time after my grandparents separated in the early 1930s. This is news for me and as I’ve never been to the island I plan to do this before this project is over. Harold met a new life partner Patricia and started a new family, and they lived out their retirement years in Fairlight.

Paul is pictured at Gordon Cricket Club’s home ground at Chatswood in front of the Victor Trumper Pavilion named for the club’s champion player who died as a result of Bright’s disease on 28 June 1915, aged 37. Interestingly, Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis – the same disease my partner suffers from. Trumper is buried in Waverley Cemetery after the largest funeral procession ever seen in Sydney at that time.

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WWI: Mementos of our Grandfathers

Remembering Harold Lilja: his father, my grandfather in Week Fifty Two

WWI Shell Shock & Callan Park

Legacy Australia CEO remembers Harry Buckman: Week Fifty One

A Cricket Club at War: Week Fifty

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