Post Script.

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”
― Pat Conroy

When I started tracing Bernie's journey I mentioned he sailed with 149 other men on the HMAT Seang Bee, firstly to training camps in England and then on to France. After training in England the men were scattered among the various divisions, companies and duties as required.

Trawling through the service records of those men, most were fortunate to return home. A closer look at their records reveals that many returned home broken men. Marina Larson (2009) book Shattered Anzacs, described these wounds as "family wounds".

Richard Dittmer. (3576)

Among the men there were younger boys, with permission from their parents to fight. Some were older men married with children. Quite a few (40) had been rejected as unfit when they tried to enlist earlier, and as the pool of volunteers began to dry up were now classified as fit. Many had been denied their first attempt due to poor dental health. Now the Army was prepared to fix their teeth before they embarked.

Richard Dittmer a metal polisher from Adelaide had been discharged as medically unfit in 1916. He reapplied later and was accepted. He spent some time in hospital with scabies, impetigo, influenza and a hernia. He remained with the 5th Battalion of Pioneers and Returned to Australia aboard the Ulysses, still sick with influenza in September 1919.

Two men Henry Sharpley (3690) and George Edmonds (3671) were ex Gallipolli Veterans. Henry had recovered from a GSW to the Right Arm and George has recovered from a GSW to the chest and shellshock.  wounded and wanting to return to the war now they were reassigned as fit.   Sharpley was gassed and described as a good soldier who became "unreliable when gets liquor".

David Wilcox (3644). 

David Wilcox a 21 year of gardener from Uraidla completed his training in England.  Went AWL for a few days before going overseas, as did a number of men. On the 5th October he arrived in France and headed out to his Unit. He was WIA on the 9th and taken to the 17th Casualty Clearing Station with GSW to the face and concussion. He died 11/10/17.







Some left as strong fearless men, returning aged beyond their years in body and soul. The Army medical file reads "senility", or "over aged" another "Effort syndrome". Many men were hospitalized for stiffness of limbs, these were all part of the effects of  trench warfare. The term Shell-Shock was used to cover these symptoms. The poet Siegfried Sassoon, wrote

Survivors

No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.
Of course they’re ‘longing to go out again,’—
These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.
They’ll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,—
Their dreams that drip with murder; and they’ll be proud
Of glorious war that shatter’d all their pride...
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.


Craiglockart. October, 1917.

In the line of duty 

• Wounded in Action - 42
• Died of Wounds - 8
• Killed in Action  - 3
• Gassed - 10
• Shell-shock - 10 
• Invalid/ medically discharged - 10

Some men were wounded and gassed. One man was gassed, buried alive and shell-shocked. He was invalided out of the service.

Illness

The most prevalent illnesses were influenza and VD. Both required long periods of convalescence and treatment. 

• Influenza - 43
• VD - 18
• Scabies -16 

The men were a rowdy bunch, 34 individuals went absent without leave at some time or other. Some went AWL several times. Twelve individuals committed court martial offences, letting a prisoner escape, urinating on the parade ground, not wearing a belt and swearing or forgetting to salute an officer.

There were three Russian soldiers who joined the A.I.F, George Didenko (3577); Albert, Michelson (3601) and Edward, Seltin (3625).  As Russian citizens they were conscripted into the Russian Army. Unable to return to Russia they sought and gained permission from the Russian Embassy to serve in the AIF.  Seltin was lightly wounded in action with a Gun Shot Wound (GSW) to the back.  All three spent some time in the Isolation ward with one form of VD or another. 

Twenty -seven married men had enlisted and two widowers. Seven men married English women at the end of the war. One woman, Gertrude White (aged 36) was widowed within three months. She married 42 year old Thomas White  in Forvant 7/11/18. After reporting sick with influenza he and his wife came home to Brompton Park. On 23/2/1919 he had died of double pneumonia at the No 15 GBH Torrens Park.


Perhaps the saddest tale is that of George Wicks (3651). A 30 year old labourer, married with no children. He was rejected the first attempt, due to rheumatism. Accepted on his second attempt he served in the front lines.  He was sent out to a forward listening post, spending time collecting bombs. In the process his rifle went off and he was wounded in his left hand. He was investigated for a Self Inflicted Wound (SIW). Eventually, it was proven his rifle was faulty. However, the insinuation stuck. A month later later he was Killed In Action. The SIW charge created problems for his wife when she tried to gain her pension. It would seem that those with SIW's or their beneficiaries did not qualify for benefits.

Some were deserters, some were troublesome drunkards. Poor William Rimmer (3697) reported as MIA was then reported as KIA. Like many men in the front lines men often just disappeared.

George Pryor (3684) was described as a habitual criminal, attempted to obtain a pension claiming to have been gassed and acquired epilepsy during his service overseas.

All who returned had their own story to tell.