Uncle George Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 (edited) He had an association with this chap (no stranger to WiT): Photograph from Wikipedia. Edited 21 December , 2018 by Uncle George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 3 minutes ago, Uncle George said: He had an association with this chap (no stranger to WiT): Yes, I remember him. One of my old boys. Might help me dig around a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 John CAPPER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 3 minutes ago, sotonmate said: John CAPPER. Alas, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 Maj-Gen (later Lt-Gen) G H Fowke. Chief Engineer of the BEF in August 1914, he succeeded Sir Nevil Macready as Adjutant-General of the BEF. The photo is from "GHQ" by "GSO" (Major Frank Fox). Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 December , 2018 Share Posted 21 December , 2018 33 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said: Maj-Gen (later Lt-Gen) G H Fowke. Chief Engineer of the BEF in August 1914, he succeeded Sir Nevil Macready as Adjutant-General of the BEF. The photo is from "GHQ" by "GSO" (Major Frank Fox). Ron Exactly so. Wikipedia tells us, " ... Engineer-in-Chief in 1915. It was in this position that he agreed the formation of the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies, after a proposal from John Norton-Griffiths." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 22 December , 2018 Share Posted 22 December , 2018 (edited) Who are these two, how are they connected, and what makes both of them a "first" in their own right? Edited 22 December , 2018 by neverforget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 22 December , 2018 Share Posted 22 December , 2018 Stuck in Sainsbury’s mahussive queue, using phone on roam as bored, I have these two in my first “list”, hope to get home (today) and answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 22 December , 2018 Share Posted 22 December , 2018 The first attack carried out on 11/9/1914 by Australians at Rabaul, saw 7 casualties. The very first Aussie to be kia was Able Seaman William G V Williams. Captain Brian Pockley was the medical officer on the same assault, he too was shot a killed, making him the Australian first officer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 22 December , 2018 Share Posted 22 December , 2018 Spot on John. Well played. World War I: Bita Paka and the day German New Guinea came under Australian control For 29-year-old Billy Williams (pictured), an electrician in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Northcote, war was declared with unfortunate timing. He had just served five years in the Naval Reserve and had only a week to go before discharge when Australia, through Britain, found itself at war with Germany. Williams' mum was anxious about Williams heading off to war as he was her only son. Her husband had died some years before. Within weeks Williams found himself part of the hastily assembled Australian Naval and Military Expedition Force. The 2,000 soldiers and naval reservists set sail from Sydney Harbour in mid-August 1914 for what was then German New Guinea. Its objective was to seize and destroy German wireless stations that were posing a serious threat to merchant shipping in the Pacific. The stations were transmitting signals to the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron, a link Australia wanted broken before troopships started leaving for Europe and the Middle East. Spirits were high among those on board HMAS Berrima as it sailed north. "There was a great sense of war enthusiasm," Australian War Memorial senior historian Aaron Pegram said. "There's a sense Australian troops are fighting for the British Empire against the main threat through Europe and that main threat is in our On this day, September 11, 1914, a party of 25 went ashore at Rabaul. HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY, ENCOUNTER, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, WARREGO, AE1 and AE2 supported this landing, and stood by to repel any German warships. Their target was the wireless station at Bita Paka, about seven kilometres inland. It was not long before the Australians were ambushed by a German patrol. In the ensuing skirmish, Williams was shot in the stomach and collapsed on a jungle road. What unfolded next was a remarkable act of gallantry. Army doctor Captain Brian Pockley (photographed) rushed to Williams' aid. Captain Pockley, the son of a distinguished Macquarie Street surgeon and a gifted athlete, quickly realised the seriously wounded Williams needed to be taken back to the HMAS Berrima. Without thinking, Pockley took off his Red Cross armband and gave it to the reservist carrying Williams as cover from German fire. No longer with that protection, the doctor himself was shot and wounded. Williams and Pockley were both taken back to the Berrima. They died within an hour of each other, AB Williams having the dubious honour of being the first Australian to die fighting for their country in the Great War. In fact, five RAN and RN naval personnel were killed or died of wounds; LCDR C. B. Elwell, RN; AB W. G. V. Williams; AB J. E. Walker; AB H. W. Street and Signalman R. D. Moffatt as well as Captain Pockley. Another 60,000 would die before the war was over. LEUT T. A. Bond, RANR, distinguished himself in the advance by single handedly capturing 30 native troops, and was later awarded the DSO, which, although not gazetted until 1916, was technically the first decoration awarded to an Australian during WWI Williams' mother was devastated while the Pockley family also took their loss hard. But the deaths in New Guinea were not in vain. The wireless stations were destroyed, allowing those troopship convoys to leave Australia largely unhindered. The loss of life had those ships been sunk would have been horrendous. The battle of Bita Paka was Australia's first significant military engagement of the war but one that was quickly overshadowed by others like the Gallipoli campaign seven months later. And this is a continuing source of frustration for the families of the dead. "It has been forgotten. Because Gallipoli being such a big action got all the publicity and there were so many Australians killed there. But the first action has been forgotten, except for the families." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 22 December , 2018 Share Posted 22 December , 2018 Nice bit of extra info there NF, I had some basic details but nothing in depth. Need to do more reading on our antipodean friends. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nepper Posted 24 December , 2018 Share Posted 24 December , 2018 Who is this VC winner and what was his pre-war first? It's not Kevin Darling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 24 December , 2018 Share Posted 24 December , 2018 It's John.H.S. Dimmer, and he was the first "ranker officer" in the K.R.R.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nepper Posted 24 December , 2018 Share Posted 24 December , 2018 25 minutes ago, neverforget said: It's John.H.S. Dimmer, and he was the first "ranker officer" in the K.R.R.C. It is indeed Dimmer - a man with an interesting and not fully explained career including unspecified intelligence work apparently of the James Bond variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 24 December , 2018 Share Posted 24 December , 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Nepper said: It is indeed Dimmer - a man with an interesting and not fully explained career including unspecified intelligence work apparently of the James Bond variety. Yes.There are things that we may never know about him, though perhaps the day may not be far away when sensitive info can be released. https://cis.photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/dimmer-vc Edited 24 December , 2018 by neverforget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 25 December , 2018 Share Posted 25 December , 2018 John (Jack) Dimmer was a former member of the 1st Barnet Company of The Boys' Brigade, and is one of 16 former members who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. They are all commemorated by the BB in our Memorial Garden at the National Memorial Arboretum, where there are paviors around the edge of the garden bearing each person's name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 (edited) Who is this horny-handed son of toil, wearing civvies and looking rather pleased with himself ? ? ? EDIT: Image from Pinterest. Edited 29 December , 2018 by Uncle George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 1 hour ago, Uncle George said: Who is this horny-handed son of toil, wearing civvies and looking rather pleased with himself ? ? ? At first glance it looked like Harry Lauder to me, but on closer inspection I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 1 hour ago, Uncle George said: horny-handed son of toil, somebody Farmer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 Would we be more used to seeing him not wearing civvies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, seaJane said: somebody Farmer? No. His labour was not agricultural. 2 hours ago, neverforget said: At first glance it looked like Harry Lauder to me, but on closer inspection I don't think so. Indeed not. 1 hour ago, neverforget said: Would we be more used to seeing him not wearing civvies? No. Here he is with old whatsisname: Edited 28 December , 2018 by Uncle George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 It looks like Wynford Vaughan Thomas, but he was too young (unless it is a late-1930s photo). Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 13 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said: It looks like Wynford Vaughan Thomas, but he was too young (unless it is a late-1930s photo). Ron No. Here's my chap in a rather threatening letter to the then Home Secretary (Churchill): "We shall bring about a state of war. Hunger and poverty have driven the dockers and ship-workers to this present resort and neither your soldiers nor police shall avert the catastrophe that's coming to this country." Blimey. Something of a firebrand then ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 Sounds like Aneurin Bevan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 28 December , 2018 Share Posted 28 December , 2018 6 minutes ago, seaJane said: Sounds like Aneurin Bevan. Like Bevan, my chap was a fiery trade unionist, socialist orator, strike leader, Labour MP. Unlike Bevan he enthusiastically supported the War effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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