http://xanthoulabertwrigley.blogspot.com
Bert Enlists.
With that
background in mind, I will now pick up Bert’s story, after about eighteen years
from the time the family settled in the Footscray area. In the “Wrigley Family” box again, I found a
worn and yellow piece of a Melbourne
“Heavy rain did not damp the spirits of these men who
marched from Footscray drill hall to the station and entrained for Caulfield
today”.
Another small
yellow piece of a different newspaper (probably a local one from Footscray) with
a clearer photo says:
“Headed by Hyde Street State School Band, 60 A.I.F.
recruits from Footscray marched from the City of Footscray drill hall yesterday
to entrain for Caulfield camp”.
On the first
row, a tall and thin young man by the name of Herbert Wrigley, is seen with a
slight smile on his face.
Less than a year
later, probably around April 1941, another small and yellow piece of the local
newspaper features this announcement:
“Pte. H. Wrigley sailed on September 15th
and is attached to headquarters. In a
letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wrigley, he stated that he had
fractured an ankle and was in hospital probably in Greece
Evidently, with
a father who had fought both in South
Africa
Soon after the
first announcement, the same newspaper published another notice:
PRISONER OF WAR
Pte. H. Wrigley.
Mr. and Mrs. T. Wrigley, Banool avenue, have been
advised that their son, Herbert, is a prisoner.
He is a former pupil of Francis
Street Greece
No date is recorded
for this announcement, but it has to be some time after April 1941, when
Corporal H. Wrigley (he had received a promotion a few months after he left) was
captured in Greece Greece
Another small
yellow piece of newspaper makes a similar announcement:
FOOTSCRAY MAN NOW PRISONER
The parents of Pte. Herbert Wrigley, 21, of Banool
Avenue, Yarraville, who was reported missing, have been advised that he is a
prisoner of war. In a letter to his
father, Pte. Wrigley said his ankle was fractured in an accident and when being
taken from a casualty clearing station, he discovered that the ambulance was
given by citizens of Footscray. Pte.
Herbert Wrigley, first reported missing and now reported prisoner of war, is
21.
That is all his
family knew, apart from what he had written in his early letters from Palestine and Egypt
before he was sent to Greece
From his
letters, we know that after he was sent to serve overseas, he was first in Palestine , then in Egypt
and Libya
Here is part of
his very first letter dated 16th October 1940:
Dear Em and Tom,
Just a line to let you know I received your very
welcome letter. I was rather surprised
to get it, but very pleased. It reached Palestine Jerusalem Egypt and
visit Cairo and the old Temples
and tombs in Luxor
Well, until later when I may have fresh news. I’ll close down.
Your
Loving Brother
Bert
These few lines
tell about the young man’s impatience with waiting around in a quiet camp,
making it clear that he had joined the army for some action. This will be a constant thought in all the
subsequent letters, until he actually succeeds in joining the AIF and begins
his war experience around February 1941 by participating in the advance from Egypt to Benghazi
The other theme
that runs through all these letters is his desire to see the world. What is remarkable is that here is a young Australian,
just past his teens, from a working class family, who grew up in working class
neighborhoods such as Yarraville and Footscray (I remember them well, I lived
there myself for four years in the mid-fifties), but who knew about and
couldn’t wait to visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and more surprisingly the temples
and tombs in Luxor, Egypt. I wonder how
many young people of that age in any country, with his background and
education, even today in the age of internet and easy access to information,
would actually know or care about Luxor
For now, let’s go
back to Palestine
VX 24068. Pte.
H. Wrigley.
Employment Platoon.
Dear Em.
Just a line in answer to your welcome letter of
21/10/40. Letters are few and far
between amongst the boys, so anyone who gets a letter is considered very
lucky. I hope this finds you as well as
it leaves me. I feel pretty full of
fight just now, so I and a pal have applied for transfer to the 2/11th
Infantry Battalion. So we might get to Egypt Jerusalem Jericho
and the Dead Sea . It’s a beautiful trip down along the road
through the mountains down to Jordan River .
Now that Syria has declared
war I shouldn’t be surprised if the enemy try to advance along the Jordan Valley
However we’ll take’em any time they care to come,
things are that quiet here I feel like belting the ears of some coot just to
ease my feelings. I met a lot of Pommies
in Jerusalem England and they told me it wouldn’t be long
before English troops would be back in France Dunkirk Gaza War Cemetery
You might tell Mum that sea mail is very slow, I only
received her letter 23/9/40 yesterday, practically 5 weeks to get to me. Well that is all for the present, so I will
close
Yours
ever
Bert
xx
The same
eagerness to be involved in fighting the war is expressed here, and along with
it the same interest and excitement about visiting historical places. Those
of us who lived with Bert, as well as his close friends, knew well his
fascination with history, an interest that must have started early, which
explains how he knew about the temples and tombs in Luxor , Egypt Australia
Another letter
gives amusing details about daily life in the camp, the food, the camaraderie
with the other soldiers, the weather: “We
had some rain you wouldn’t believe possible for two days. I thought it would never stop. I did my washing and got it dry though
between showers. What with being his own
washerwoman and peeling vegetables in the cookhouse a man becomes very
domesticated these days!” He also mentions that finally he had an
interview for his transfer to an infantry battalion. But what stands out in this letter is when he
asks his sister for a favor:
I wonder if you would do me a very special
favour. We have a chap in our crowd
called Colin Cations and he hasn’t had a letter or word from his sister or
friends since he’s been in the country.
He always looks rather wistful when we get a letter and he doesn’t so if
you would care to write to him his address is
VX
15869
Pte.
C.E. Cations
Employment.
Plat.
Corps
HQ.
AIF
Abroad.
Further down, he
thinks of his younger brother Eric (“Dig”, who had also enlisted). “How is my little brother anyhow. I’ve been wondering about him, has he gone
away yet. I think I’d like to bring him
over here to the East after the war and show him round.”
He closes with a
joking remark to his sister: “I don’t
think you’d care for sheiks, they make their wives do all the work.”
The next letter
bears no date, but from the content we can tell that it was written and sent again
from Palestine
I received your welcome letter of 12/12/40 and thanks
for writing to Colin Cations. (...)
Well I wish they would hurry up if they intend to accept my application
for transfer. I should never have come
to Corps HQ in the first place, however being pushed into it, I had no idea
what it was like. Besides the infantry need me more than they do here. (...)
I think I’ve seen enough of this part of Palestine
I saw a Bedouin in from the desert the other day, the
first of them I’ve seen. He stood out on
his own amongst the city Arabs. He had a
sword about a yard long that I think I could have used for a razor. Some of the local celebrities started out on
the pilgrimage to Mecca
Your
loving brother,
Bert
As in all
previous letters, the same elements stand out: his eagerness to get into action,
his thinking of others -- whether soldiers fighting in the front on Christmas Day
or keeping his promise to his younger brother to send him an Arab knife --, and
his interest in what he experiences in other cultures: Roman baths and Mecca
pilgrims, how a death is announced in the Islamic world, a quick portrait of a
Bedouin and his deadly sword.
Like the letter
quoted above, the next letter has no date, but it is clear that he is still
waiting for his transfer so it was probably written sometime in January 1941.
Dear Em and Tom,
I got your letter today. I had letters from all the family the other
day so you can bet I have been busy writing.
(...) We were glad here when the
British went into action. I wish I was
there right now, however I’m waiting to be sent for by the infantry now. (...) I
haven’t done any more sightseeing yet, but if I get with the infantry battalion
I’m transferring to, I’ll go to Egypt
Well I don’t think I have anything more to write
about, if I am moved to the infantry, I’ll let you know, so I’ll close.
The next letter
dated 2nd February 1941 is mailed from Egypt
Dear Em,
I hope you won’t mind my failing to answer your
previous letters but the truth is I got them at a time when it was impossible
to answer them. You will see by the
stamps on the letter that I’m in Egypt
Having let off
steam about that, he moves on to his next favorite subject, his experience of
the foreign cultures he encounters, his interest in seeing new places and
learning about the people who live there.
It looks as though he never made it to Luxor ,
but at least he managed to visit Alexandria
I don’t know
whether I’m supposed to tell you this or not but I and my pals went on leave to
Alexandria Jerusalem Palestine
Well
I say cheerio now until later.
Your
loving brother Bert
Bert’s second to
last letter is dated 20th February 1941. He explains that he is now
in Libya
Dear Em and Tom,
I hope you’ll excuse the pencil but I can’t get any
ink because we haven’t got a canteen here.
You probably know I’m in Libya, but it’s better than Egypt for scenery
etc. There are a lot of trees and green
fields and shrubs that in parts remind me of Blackburn
and Eltham. I don’t know how long we’ll
be here but I hope it’s not too long.
There’s nowhere we can go on leave, the nearest city is bombed nearly
every night so it wouldn’t be much fun having to spend leave dodging
bombs. Anyway it’s out of bounds to
us. The mail is very irregular so it
will be some time before you get this as the Australian Mail plane goes from Egypt
At present we are living in a Dago barracks, it’s not
a bad place but the trouble is water or rather the lack of it. We have to be very careful so it is only
turned on periodically. There is a small
Arab village not far from us where we go to buy eggs from the Arabs. They haven’t woken up to the fact that when a
country is conquered the currency is sometimes affected and they ask 1 lira for
an egg. There is about 10 lira to 1 and
a half pennies, so when we offer them 1 piastra Egyptian for an egg (about 3d)
they think we’re trying to rob them. So
one chap bought about 10/- worth of liras for 2/- and then the Arabs talked
business so we had a good feed of boiled eggs.
I tried some Italian wine, it’s not bad stuff, if you can get the good
wine it’s very good for you, but some is just plonk. The Italian buildings are picturesque
places. One city we were in, we visited
a house that was typical of any villa you would see in Monte Carlo Singapore ,
but the news is never given in detail and I haven’t had a letter or paper since
I left Egypt
Well Em, I think that is all for the present so I’ll
say cheerio till later.
Your loving brother
Bert
P.S. Am putting a Libyan stamp on the letter although
it has nothing to do with the post, it’s just for any collector you might know.
This particular
letter is partly devoted to describing the new surroundings, the vegetation of
the countryside, the people and customs in Libya, but he is also giving an idea
of what it is like to be closer to the action:
the long truck rides in the dust, the lack of water in the former Italian
barracks, the army food, the nightly bomb raids over the closest city, the
sight of the Italian bombers that had been shot down, the Italian prisoners of
war looking miserable and his feelings of pity towards them. It is a letter that covers many aspects of
that experience, which he takes the time to share with his family, ending with
the temptation of holding on to an Italian officer’s cap or the gesture of
putting a Libyan stamp on the letter, “just
for any collector” that his sister might know.
Bert’s last
letter to his sister has no date, and it isn’t clear whether it was sent from Libya or from Egypt
Interestingly
enough, the letter itself doesn’t say anything about either his promotion or
his forthcoming move, as one would expect, probably because of a sense of
modesty. Bert was throughout his life
very low key about his achievements. He
may also not have mentioned it because he didn’t want his family to worry about
the fact that his life would now be in immediate danger. The letter is still revealing in its own
way. It deals with family and friends’
news and concerns -- about a friend who isn’t very strong to undergo some harsh
training he is going through, about his younger brother “Dig” who is in
hospital with a “strain” of something in his stomach, and who perhaps should be
discharged, about his older brother George, the one who had been gassed in WWI,
who “ought to retire now and enjoy
himself”, and about his mother to whom he had sent 20 pounds for a Mother’s
Day gift but who said “she didn’t need
anything at present”. This last letter
shows a young man fully involved in the life of his family, even at a critical
moment in his own. He ends the letter
mentioning the possibility of a leave, perhaps in July, probably to make his
family feel better. He must have known
that the way the war was going, and especially now that he was going to be on
active duty, he wasn’t likely to go back to Australia
Go to 4. "Bert in Greece" blog.
