St John's Cemetery - Parramatta

St John's cemetery, Parramatta, is the oldest burial ground in Australia. It contains the remains of notable persons associated with the foundation of the colony and many graves of those who arrived with the First Fleet. The first interment is James Magee, a convict’s child, buried on 31 January 1790. The first burial marked with a stone memorial was of Henry Edward Dodd on 28 January 1791. Henry Dodd, Superintendent of Convicts at the Government Farm, is noted for growing the first successful wheat crop in the colony.

St John's cemetery site is a place of cultural heritage. Many early landholders, whose names reflect local suburbs, are buried here. D’Arcy Wentworth of Wentworthville, John Harris of Harris Park, several members of the Blaxland family, Mary Kelly of Kellyville, Mary Pymble of Pymble and John Thorn of Thornleigh are buried there. Other notable burials include Reverend Samuel Marsden, Chief Cleric of the colony, Minister at St Johns Cathedral for almost 50 years, Robert Campbell of Campbell’s Wharf and Duntroon, noted as the father of Australian commerce, two Governor’s wives, Mrs Elizabeth Bourke and Lady Mary Fitzroy, two Assistant Commissaries John Palmer and Thomas Freeman, many pioneer missionaries and seventeen marked graves of those who arrived on the first fleet.

WW1 -Christmas Day 1915 and Football Match

On Christmas Day 1915, soldiers from both sides of the trenches met up in ‘No-Man’s-Land’ for a game of football. Nothing official was kept of this brief meeting between the enemies.

Bertie Felstead, the last known survivor of that football match, died at the age of 106 in July 2001. He was a member of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Bertie Felstead remembered the following:

On Xmas Eve, he was stationed in northern France with his colleagues near the village of Laventie when he heard the Germans in a trench 100 meters away singing "Silent Night". In reply, the Royal Welch Fusiliers sang "Good King Wenceslas".

On Xmas Day, after some shouting between both trenches, he and his colleagues got out of their icy trench and greeted the Germans. Bertie Felstead recalled that the Germans probably were already out of their trench before the British left theirs. He claimed that nothing was planned and that what happened was entirely spontaneous.

A football was produced from somewhere – though he could no re-call from where. "It was not a game as such – more of a kick-around and a free-for-all. There could have been 50 on each side for all I know. I played because I really liked football. I don’t know how long it lasted, probably half-an-hour, and no-one was keeping score."

The truce ended when a British major ordered the British soldiers back to their trench with a reminder that "they were there to kill the Hun not to make friends with him."

The mood of Christmas friendliness was shortly broken by the firing of British artillery. Bertie Felstead described the Germans as "all right".

Health Effects of WW1

World War One had profound consequences in the health of the troops. There were about 60 million military personnel who went to war between 1914 to 1918. Out of 60 millions - 8 million were killed, 15 million were seriously injured and 7 million were permanently disabled. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%. In Germany civilian deaths were 474,000 due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition.

By the end of the war, famine killed 100,000 people in Lebanon, 5 million to 10 million from Russian famine. By 1922, there were between 4.5 million and 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of World War I. By 1930s, the northern Chinese city of Harbin had 100,000 Russians and thousands emigrated to France, England, and the United States.

In Australia, the effects of the war on the economy were no less severe. The Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister, Lloyd George, "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received ₤5,571,720 war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been ₤376,993,052. 416,000 Australians served in the war and 60,000 were killed & 152,000 were wounded.

In 1914, louse-borne epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. Russia had about 25 million infections and 3 million deaths from epidemic typhus (1918 to 1922). In 1918, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world and flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people.

Indian Victoria Crosse recipient soldiers - WW1

Indian Victoria Crosse recipient soldiers

 

Name	Unit	Place of Action	Date of Action
Khudadad Khan	129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis	Hollebeke, Belgium	1914
Darwan Negi	39th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1914
Gabar Negi	BB03939th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1915
Mir Dast	55th Coke's Rifles	Wieltje, Belgium	1915
Chatta Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Battle of the Wadi, Mesopotamia	1916
Lala	41st Dogras	El Orah, Mesopotamia	1916
Shahamad Khan	89th Punjab Regiment	Beit Ayeesa, Mesopotamia	1916
Gobind Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Peizieres, France	1916
Badlu Singh	14th Murray's Jat Lancers	River Jordan, Palestine	1918

WW1 - Indian Soldiers - Manta Singh

Manta Singh was born in the Punjab, northern India. Soon after leaving the school, he joined the 2nd Sikh Royal Infantryin 1907.  By August 1914, when the German army invaded Belgium and France, Manta held the rank of Subedar, and his regiment was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to France

In March 1915 the Allies attacked Neuve-Chapelle and broke through the German front line. On the first day of the battle, British and Indian troops captured the town. British and Indian troops suffered 13,000 casualties in three days fighting. About 20 per cent of the Indian contingent – were killed in heavy fighting, and Manta Singh was injured in action after helping to save the life of an injured officer, Captain Henderson

Manta Singh was sent back to England, to a hospital in Brighton. The doctors told him that he would have to lose both his legs, as they had become infected with gangrene. Manta refused to think about going back to India with no legs – what use would he be to his family? Unfortunately, he died from blood poisoning a few weeks later. He was cremated in a ghat, according to Sikh beliefs.

In the Second World War, the sons of both of Manta Singh and In the Second World War, the sons of Manta Singh and Captain Henderson
served side by side and became lifelong friends served side by side and became lifelong friends.

In 1993 Manta Singh's son, Lt Col Assa Singh Johal, was part of a delegation of the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemen's Association that visited the Indian war memorial at Neuve-Chapelle. Assa Singh said, "It was a moving visit of great sentimental value to us. We were able to remember and pay homage to the fallen in foreign lands."

Indra Lal Roy - Indian Soldier - WW1

Indra Lal Roy was India's only officially accredited air ace of the First World War, destroying 5 aircrafts in 170 hours of flying time, achieving ten 'kills' prior to his death in action in July 1918.

Roy was born in Calcutta on 2 December 1898. He was educated in England and was attending St. Paul's School in Kensington (since 1911) when war broke out in August 1914, then aged just 15.

In April 1917 Roy enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and was given a commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 5 July 1917. Within a week Roy was training at Vendome. Roy was assigned to 56 Squadron at the end of October 1917 after Gunnery practice.

While on a sortie in December 1917 over France and Germany, Indra Lal Roy's aircraft was shot down by Germans in 'No Man's Land'. After lying unconscious for three days, he was picked up by British troops and sent to a British military hospital in France. He was given up for dead and sent to the mortuary. At the mortuary, however, he regained consciousness.

Following a spell of recuperation - during which time he occupied himself sketching aeroplanes, many of which have survived - Roy underwent further remedial training in England. Nevertheless pronounced medically unfit Roy was successful in getting the verdict reversed before returning to France on 19 June 1918.

Assigned to George McElroy's 40 Squadron "Laddie" Roy amassed ten air victories (two shared) in a short period from 6-19 July, including three in a single day in under four hours, 8 July. Three days following his last victory, on 22 July 1918, Roy was killed in action, shot down in flames in the skies above Carvin while fighting German Fokker D.VII aircraft belonging to Jasta 29.

Roy was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in September 1918. To this date he remains the sole Indian air ace. He is buried at Estvelles Communal Cemetery.

Indra Lal Roy’s nephew Subroto Mukerjee was also a fighter pilot who became the first Indian Chief of Air staff of the Indian Air force.