The Other Side of the Trench. G. S. Willmott

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      Harry’s 59^th Battalion was ordered to take Sugar Loaf. This was a near impossible mission. It was from this fortification that Harry received his mortal blow Back home in Northcote, Melbourne, Harry’s Mother was bathing the youngest of her three children, James, when there was a knock at the front door. She took James from the bath and covered him with a towel. Slowly she opened the door, as she did not get many visitors. She looked at the Minister from their church watching her grimly, he had a yellow envelope in his hand.

      ‘No, NO it can’t be! Harry NO! she screamed, starting to weep.’ ‘I am so sorry, Jane. Can I come in?’ ‘I am sorry Minister. I would rather be on my own right now.’ ‘If there is anything I can do please let me know.’

      Jane closed the door and leaned against the hall wall and wailed. James starting crying and the whole Daniel house was encompassed in grief.

      Sam Daniel came home from work about 4.30 pm only to find Jane in the kitchen, sitting quietly.

      ‘What’s wrong, love, you look like you have seen a ghost.’ Jane looked at him and pointed to the telegram on the kitchen table. He picked it up and read it “It is my painful duty to inform you” That is all he read. He slumped down on the chair and wept.

      Jane and Sam did not sleep much that night managing only a couple of hours. Sam got up first and made a cup of tea. He went into the bedroom to wake Jane and was astounded. Jane’s hair had turned completely white overnight.

      Melbourne Australia 2012

      Lois Kennedy was Harry’s niece, she often wondered about her uncle Harry; he had died well before she had been born. She had seen a news report only that week about Australian and British soldiers being discovered in a place called Pheasant’s Wood at Fromelles and they were seeking relatives of soldiers who died in the Battle of Fromeles to give a DNA sample to try to identify them. Lois contacted the Department of Defence and requested a DNA kit.

      The kit arrived a few weeks later and she swabbed the inside of her cheeks and placed it in the plastic bag and the envelope provided and returned it.

      She hoped that Harry would become one of the found and be properly buried in the newly created cemetery in the Fromelles village.

      This was the advertisement that Lois Kennedy saw in the newspaper she was reading on her front veranda on a very warm Melbourne afternoon in January 2011.

      “Back-Roads Touring”text-align: center;

       WWI Battlefield Weekend 2013

      YPRES SALIENT, THE SOMME, VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, FROMELLES & VIMY RIDGE – ‘This three day introductory tour allows visitors to see the major areas of British and Commonwealth involvement across the Western Front. All the major Commonwealth countries; Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, as well as Britain, played major roles in ensuring ultimate victory and the tour is flexible enough to ensure that visitors from all countries will see the memorials to their countries fallen, as well as gaining a greater understanding of the overall conduct and strategy of the war.’

      She had always wanted to visit the battlefields where her two uncles were killed in the First World War. She had recently retired from her position as an administrator with the Catholic Church and was therefore free to go. She decided to email for the information pack and it arrived four days later.

      Lois read the brochure; it really did look like a wonderful trip. She had travelled to Europe with her daughter years before and fell in love with Paris so she did not need any prompting to return. The tour went to both Fromelles and Ypres close to where young Harry died in that horrendous battle and where Harry Senior endured horrible machine gun wounds. Harry Senior had died at Amiens and she hoped to travel there also. Neither of the Harry’s had “no known grave” and therefore she would see their memorials. Young Harry was at V.C. Corner and Harry Senior at Villers – Bretonneux.