Scotch College

Wooden crosses recall Old Boys' supreme sacrifice

Remembrance Day, 11 November, is always a significant day in the School year, and this year it took on particular significance with all Old Boy war veterans invited to Scotch for assembly.

The veterans and the boys saw a presentation to the School by Melbourne Grammar School Headmaster Mr Paul Sheahan (on behalf of Peter Macdougall and MGS) of replicas of the medals of our most decorated World War II veteran, Hugh Randall Syme. The veterans later attended lunch in the Cardinal Pavilion.

Year 7 students had prepared approximately 330 wooden crosses as a tribute to all Old Boys killed during World War I (330) and World War II (320). These individually named crosses were planted in the quadrangle lawns during the assembly, and remained there throughout Remembrance Day, and also during the Tattoo that evening, as a reminder to the School of the ultimate sacrifice these men made.

They were a moving symbol of the deeds of men who gave their lives for their country and who will never be forgotten.

On the day before Remembrance Day, Head of History Dr Mark Johnston spoke to the Year 7 students about World Wars I and II and the significance of Remembrance Day. A transcript of his address follows: ‘Remembrance Day developed out of Armistice Day, which commemorated the end of World War I, on 11 November 1918. The idea of the poppies that we all connect with Remembrance Day was made up during the war. It was inspired by a poem, entitled “In Flanders Fields”, written by a Canadian Army surgeon, John McRae. He wrote the poem in May 1915. Part of it runs:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place

‘McCrae wrote the poem to pass the time between treating wounded. He survived the fighting, but not the war: he died of pneumonia in 1918. However, his poem of remembrance lived on. A woman named Moina Michael was moved by the poem to sell poppies to raise money for servicemen in need, and this established the poppy as the symbol of the war dead of the British Empire. ‘McRae’s commanding officer said about the writing of In Flanders Fields: ‘“This poem was born of fire and blood during the battle of Ypres. John had his medical station in a hole dug in the bank. During the battle men who were shot actually rolled down the bank into his dressing station. Along from us a few hundred yards was a headquarters, and many times during the battle he and I watched them burying their dead. Thus the crosses, row on row, grew into a good sized cemetery.” ‘Soon you’ll have crosses, row on row, here in the quad. I’m sure that when they are laid out you’ll be very impressed, and that this Remembrance Day will stick in your memory. Every name on the crosses has behind it a story… of courage, pain, tears and loss.

‘All the names on the First World War crosses appear too above the stage in the Hall. There are about 200 names. Imagine 300 lots of 200 crosses, spread all over Australia. That’s how many we’d need to represent the 60,000 Australians killed in the First World War. The real crosses for the graves of most of these men are in other countries: especially Turkey, France, and Belgium. I wonder if you know how many Australians killed overseas in that war were brought back for burial in Australia? The answer is two. One was a general, called William Bridges. He commanded the Australians who went to Gallipoli in 1915, and he was killed there while swimming at Anzac Cove. His body was returned to Australia to be buried in 1915. The other Australian was brought back in 1993. He was discovered near Villers-Bretonneux, site of one of Sir John Monash’s most famous battles, and a place where the primary school today bears in its hall the words “Never forget the Australians”. This unknown soldier ended up with a grand burial at the War Memorial in Canberra, but thousands of the Australians who died in the war have no known grave. Their bodies were never found, as they were lost in a sea of mud or, more often completely destroyed by the shells that blew many soldiers to bits. Quite a few of the Old Scotch Collegians named on your crosses were never found.

‘What a loss 60,000 men out of our small population of 5 million was! Think of all the energy and ability that was lost to Australia with these young men.

‘And of course not only Australia lost servicemen. About 9 million from 20 countries were killed – that’s about one every 16 seconds day and night for the entire period from 4 August 1914 to 11 November 1918. They died in terrible ways, killed by new or more powerful weapons – the machine-gun, huge artillery pieces that could fire up to 100 kilometres, flamethrowers and poison gas, aerial bombs.

‘So this war turned out not to be the great adventure that millions had gone away expecting. It was called the Great War, because it was much bigger than any previous war. In fact when it ended, people called it the war to end all wars.

‘That of course wasn’t to be. The Second World War was in many ways worse. Australia was a bit more fortunate in that the dead numbered 34,000, which was fewer than in the First World War.

Scotch was less fortunate in that more Scotchies died in this war than in the First. They died in places as different as the deserts of North Africa, the mountains of Greece and Syria, the jungles of the Pacific region and especially in air battles flying bombers over German-held Europe. The whole world was less fortunate too – about 50 million soldiers and civilians were killed, including 6 million Jews murdered just because of their ethnic background.

‘So what should we conclude about these terrible losses? They illustrate the tragedy of war. Some people say that all wars are a waste of time. However, it is impossible to argue convincingly that a war against the Nazis, the killers of those 6 million Jews, was not worthwhile. Or that it was not important to prevent the Japanese from taking over and enslaving South-East Asia, and eventually Australia, as they surely would have done given the chance. Even in the case of the First World War, which for a long time has been called a war without meaning or purpose, most experts now agree that had Germany and its allies won, their rulers intended to conquer as much territory as they could and to rule it as a dictatorship.

Their vision had no place for democracy or tolerance. So when on Remembrance Day every year we think of the war dead of our own and many other Allied countries, we should consider that their loss was not only painful and sad, but also that the men who risked that loss contributed to protecting the way of life we enjoy today.’

At the luncheon, former School Chaplain Rev. Archie Crow delivered the following Grace:

Loving heavenly Father,
On this sacred Remembrance Day 2005,
We recall returning to Australia after World War II from the United Kingdom, Middle East, Singapore, Malaya, New Guinea and the Islands, Borneo; and later from Vietnam and other vital campaigns.

We came back, while others of our comrades – men and women – ‘stayed on’ (as we used to say), scattered over foreign fields and in sundry resting places. Alone or gathered together with respect and dignity, others again lie tranquil and at peace in our own country.

Gracious Lord, we thank you humbly for our own safe return, for your guidance and protection in danger, trials and difficulties; and for your support of our loved ones at home; and for them nobly keeping the home fires burning.

We pray for your comfort and consolation for the bereaved; for those broken in body, mind or spirit – still paying the price for the obscenity of war; and for their loyal carers.

As survivors of Navy, Army, Air Force, Merchant Marine and Allied Forces, and with the whole Scotch Community, we pray for peace in our time, and commit ourselves to achieving it. Bless now this meal of fellowship together, and us who partake of it.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Saviour of the World. Amen.

Tim Shearer