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Watch presented to | Mrs F.W. Dodd by Girls, |
Edward Gilmore (Hughie) Dodd
(1894-1957)
Sergeant AIF 1916-1919 Western Front.
Hughie enlisted in the Army Reserve before volunteering for active service. He was gassed at Ypres and suffered the effects for the rest of his life. His brother, Norman also served at the front. The incredible privations Hughie suffered were recorded each day in his leather-bound diary. Ever aware of his mortality, Hughie posted sections home regularly. A transcript has been typed for Hughie’s grand-children and the original lodged in the Army Museum of Western Australia for safe-keeping.
The Tunnellers As Engineers - Special Praise from Haig
LONDON, Dec 5, 1.20 am
Field-Marshall Sir Douglas Haig in a Special Order congratulates the mining and tunnelling units and says that they demonstrated a complete superiority over the Germans and achieved magnificent success as Messines; they prepared the offensive on the Somme and at Arras and Ypres and carried out dangerous tasks in removing enemy traps and mines on the roads, bridges and in the dug-outs. They have shown the highest qualities as engineers and fighting troops. Sir Douglas Haig specially mentions the Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company.
"Trench Fever" and some terrible conditions our AIF were exposed to in France, are explained at http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/medical/liceand.htm
By 1916 the great war had entered upon a serious phase and the call for men became urgent. The Labor Congress at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia passed a resolution in favour of trusting the Federal Government in the matter but despite that fact a great discussion soon raged in the ranks of the party on the conscription question. A split in the ranks of the Labor Party came, and Hughie’s father, Parliamentarian, Jabez Dodd felt that he had no alternative but to support compulsory military service. Like every thoughtful man, he deplored the war deeply, but in an address before the North Perth Presbyterian Church he told his hearers of how in some respects humanity had gained as a result of the dreadful struggle, instancing the improvement of medical knowledge and the breaking down of the class spirit.
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Watch presented to | Mrs F.W. Dodd by Girls, |
Jabez and Hughie’s mother, Florence actively canvassed for a YES vote to conscription. It had aroused strong feelings on both sides, however the vote for conscription was lost and enlistment remained voluntary. Red Cross branches were formed in most country towns and women gathered to make clothes and bandages for injured soldiers. At Christmas, people filled billy cans with Christmas cakes, cigarettes and other small gifts to send to soldiers at the front. Florence was President of the Soldiers' Welcome Committee and took up the same work at the outbreak of World War II.
Touring Europe after the war had finished.
Hughie, 3rd from left.
