They told them to check their equipment most importantly their rifles, bayonets and grenades. It had been reported that inexperienced troops were forgetting to pull the pin on their grenades before hurling them, so this was mentioned as well.
Harry took the time to write a quick note to his Mum and Dad back home in Melbourne.
“Dear Mum and Dad,
I have been told we are going over the top very soon. I know what that is like from my time at Gallipoli and its hell on earth. I survived Gallipoli and I have no doubt I will survive here with the help of God.
I will put this letter in my pocket and if anything does happen to me, my cobbers will find it and send it on to you.
I want you to know that I love you both.
Well I said a quick note and there’s the five-minute whistle so I better sign off.
Love
Harry”
Harry’s parents never received his letter.
‘Well, mate, this it, I’ll see you in Jerry’s trenches soon.’
‘See you there, cobber, responded Frankie.
Then they heard the whistle and the officer close to them yelled ‘Give them hell boys! Over you go!’
Harry and Frankie clambered over the top and started to run, heading for Sugar Loaf their objective, according to orders. Machine Guns were firing from all directions Harry could hear the bullets tearing through the flesh of the Diggers running beside him. He found a shell crater and jumped in only to find three bodies lying in the water at the bottom. ‘So this is what they call ANZAC soup.’ he thought.
He knew he could not stay there long so he clambered up the slope and was starting to run again. He had not fired a shot yet, a bit useless from this far away. He could feel his heart pumping and the adrenalin rushing through his veins was like a river torrent: the noise of the guns and shellfire was deafening, then, silence.
Harry had received a mortal wound. He would not be going home, he would not be found, he would not have The Last Post played as they lowered him down. He would be one of the missing, an unknown soldier.
Harry’s 59th 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.
Lois put the brochure away for a few days and then brought it out of the kitchen dresser and read it again. I am going she said to her self. She emailed Back-Roads Touring Co and requested a registration form which Mandy, the sales and marketing person, promptly sent via return email. The cost including airfares, accommodation and the tour was $3500. She would be away for two weeks unless she decided to extend and do some more travelling. That decision could wait. Lois completed the registration form that night and transferred the funds from her bank account.
‘There, I am committed’ she thought.
Lois then rang all four of her children and told them what she was doing. They were all delighted, although her youngest son, Terry, was concerned that his Mother at seventy-two would be travelling alone. He spoke to his wife, Claire, the next day and they both decided that Terry should travel to France with his mother. He had not been to Europe before so he was quite excited by the thought of seeing Paris and some of France.
He went around to Lois’s house the next day and told Lois his news. She was absolutely
