Diaries detail ANZAC journey

For Helen Tuckey, April 25 is a proud day as her two grandfathers, Albert James (A.J) Pitcher and William Albert Anderson were members of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.

While they both ended up as part of the ANZACs, Helen’s grandfathers enlisted for very different reasons, “They were 10 years apart in age, one had a stable background and the other really struggled as a motherless (and virtually fatherless) teenager. One went to war out of duty and adventure, the other for an adventure and free food and clothes. While one was in trouble for AWOL in Egypt and for swearing in front of an officer, the other hunted for a chapel to find an organ so he could sing hymns with his mates.”

The WW1 diary of Helen’s grandfather, A.J. Pitcher is now lodged with the Australian War Memorial in Canberra however Helen has a copy typed by her Uncle Bill, “The diary ends abruptly as he was wounded in France, transported to London where he was in hospital, where he became engaged to a nurse who married him and they returned to Australia together after the war.” 

A.J. passed away in 1966, “I remember him sleeping in a separate bed all those years after the war as in his sleep, his mind would return to the trenches and he would be yelling out and fighting again, I remember hearing this when he had his afternoon nap. I never realised then and later, that he had lost a brother too, and a cousin.” 

Helen’s mother Shirley keeps her father William Anderson’s war diary safely in a cabinet made by her Uncle Bob. The diary was carried through the voyage from Melbourne, via Fremantle to Egypt, Gallipoli, France, and then back to Melbourne. William enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force within days of turning 18, “The Gallipoli landing took place on April 25, 1915, Will turned 18 on the 6th of May, the dreadful casualty lists were published at about the same time. He went into camp at Broadmeadows, and in a few months was embarked on the “Anchises”, and it is from that time that he began to make diary entries.” – Shirley Pitcher.

“The deepest impression left by Dad’s sparse stories is one of incredibly prevalent mud, and dirt so horrible it almost defied our young imaginations.   He did not talk much about The War as we grew older; somehow we did not probe either, recognising his right to be as reticent as he chose about this terrible part of his life.”

Despite the many things he would rather forget, Shirley believes William must have enjoyed Egypt, “He relished telling us that he had seen the Pyramids, and been close to the exotic ways of the Egyptians. He found a tiny coin sitting on top of a tiny hill of sand, and, much to Helen’s delight, gave it into her keeping.”

In 2008, Helen’s youngest son Andy toured France as part of the St. George’s Cathedral Choir for the 90th anniversary of the Western Front, “During that tour, we visited Great Uncle Ernest’s (A.J. Pitcher’s brother) grave in the Somme region and left some Aussie floral tributes. His father, my Great Grandfather, was a botanist and used to collect for the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne).” 

Lest we forget.