ANZAC Day - great stories

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was disbanded after Gallipoli and then reformed briefly, in the Second World War during the Battle of Greece in 1942. Nazis drove the ANZACs from Northern Greece down to the southern most tip of the mainland to the city of Kalamata. Thousands were evacuated by boat to Crete to engage in some of the toughest fighting seen in WWII and many were left behind on the shoreline unable to escape. Of those some were captured, others fled back into the hills and joined the partisans. My grandfather took in an Aussie ANZAC at great risk to his own life as well as his family and the rest of the village. He was kitted out as a local and lived in his house for several months. Unfortunately I don't know his name and would have loved to have reached out to his family here. I remember grandad telling me as a kid that he would take him into the mountains at night where he would convey intelligence via a morse code machine (I think). He eventually made his escape by boat and ended up in Egypt and after that whom knows. Grandad and all the other locals could not believe that these young men from a country on the other side of the world had travelled so far to help defend their homeland. Little did grandad know at the time that his offspring would end up in Australia and that he would also spend considerable time there. Funny old world eh? Australians are still highly revered in that part of Greece and it's a lovely part of the world to explore.

Heading over there again later this year. This is the house "our" ANZAC lived in and we're lucky enough to still have it and enjoy. I'll be lighting a candle for him at the local church when I'm there

Lest We Forget
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Nice story and thanks for the invite.

 

+1. Never been to Greece. Nice to know there's free accommodation there now.

 

Kalamata is beautiful horio.

 

+575 billion

 

That is a brilliant story Greg.

 

It's a big horio these days, awesome place

 

I bawled my eyes out when he died, a true hero and gentleman

This is a good read about that time. Note the caption in the 2nd photo describing how many were left behind
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+355

Great story.

 

Thanks for sharing your ANZAC family story Greg

 

The new highway from Athens makes a big difference. It's a nice drive via Corinthos and eventually down to Sparti.

 

The highway wasn't finished when I was last there in 2010, so looking forward to the drive down. The roads up the villages in the mountains are loads of fun, just look out for the donkeys!

 

The new highway is first class but takes a little from the charm of the old country roads with the small roadside tavernas and small villages.

 

That was a great doco last night.
The yanks aren't bad at destroying history when making the movie.

 

My dad was one of the 8000. Spent the next 4+ years as a POW.

 

I have had the privilege to know, and have known some the men from the "greatest generation" as some would term it. For years I tried to get these guys to record some of the events that they were involved with that shaped history.
When my good friend Michael Veitch wrote his first book "Flak" doing exactly that.
I introduced him to a all of the vets I knew and when the next book came out "FLY" we got down the stories. Heroes of the skies came out after that but unfortunately the ranks had thinned, a lot, and now their experiences are gone.
Mainly aircrew though, I have known a few of the "few". The bomber boys, and the coastal command crews.
Thanks to:
Alan Deere. DFC, DSO, DFM, OBE of 54 Sqdn. Battle of Britain
Gordon Olive DFC, Battle of Britain
Alex Vowels DFC 463 Sqdn,
Bruce Buckham DFC, 463 Sqdn. On the raid that sunk the Turpitz
Barney Barnett 136 Sqdn, Barn is 98 and can still tell you the start up procedures in a Spitfire!!!
Bob MacIndoe- Air Gunner, First air lift of POW's from Changi, amongst many other things
Lauire Woods DFC,460 Sqdn.
Gordon Hando DFC, 460 Sqdn


I can only urge all of you that if you have any of the vets in, or close to your life, contact them and get their experiences recorded.
If they know that you are sincere and have genuine respectful interest, they will tell you, you will be humbled by it. It won't go to the grave, because once they are gone it will be lost forever.
Future generations should have an understanding of what price was paid for the freedom
that we all enjoy.

 

+575

I've also had the privilege to know some of the "few of the few", including Sandy Greig DSO, DFC, who succumbed to alcoholism as a result of PTSD. He missed a raid in 1945 due to an ear infection, his Lancaster was shot down with no survivors, for the rest of his days he felt responsible.

I also have a good mate who is the grandson of "Bull" Garing, who put his unarmed Sunderland flying boat between a lifeboat containing children and an attacking Messerschmitt 110. He circled that lifeboat for 20 minutes while being shot up, until the German had to turn home to avoid running out of fuel.

Heroes all of them, but Yasmin from the ABC thinks illegal immigrants are more important.

 

Hope he had some peace when he got back

 

My uncle Jack fought in Milne Bay (Paratrooper). He never spoke about it.

 

My grandfather WWI and my 3 uncles (his sons) WWII would NOT talk about it, my FIL (WWII Kokoda) said it was best never spoken about .... but I would have been intrigued to hear how they handled it ..... sadly all dead now, greatest respect for them

 

My grandfather served in WWII (I think in PNG), but he never talks about it.

He's about to turn 94 and still going strong.

 

Thanks. He didn't ever talk about it much and preferred to ignore Anzac Day. I guess he had PTSD but it wasn't part of the lexicon back then. They just had to get on with life as best they could.