A Soldier's photos

 Frank Cleary, NX21851, a gunner in an Anti Aircraft Regiment, was posted to the Middle East from June 1941 through to January 1942. A detailed account of his Second World War service is included in another post on this blog. During his time in the Middle East he posted over 100 photos home. A much smaller handful of  half a dozen photos from his time in Papua New Guinea, also arrived home. All black and white, ranging in size from 6cm x 4cm through to around 8cm x 6cm, they are typical of any tourist photos of new, exotic locations, but with the constant reminder that far from a mere tourist, this photographer is also a soldier. 

The treasured 'home' for these photos for the past eighty years has been this small wooden box.

It's the sort of gift you could buy from a market stall or one of the shops servicing pilgrims and visitors over the many pre-war years. And it is easy to imagine the excitement in the Cleary family when this gift was presented, probably during home leave in October 1942. It is now one of our family treasures, a very tangible link with my father who bought it, in a strange and distant land, in a time of war now over 80 years ago.

Dad never spoke about his war-time experiences, beyond a few generalisations - one that sticks in my mind as he explained his aversion to rice "I was a gonna if the Japs caught me". But we never tried to probe those experiences with him. Our family life of a father working in hotels meant there was little time and opportunity to sit and talk. And when, in later years, there was the time, he was a man damaged by alcohol and regrets we never fully understood, and the family dynamic was just not right for these sorts of discussions.

That's why it is so good to now let dad speak for himself. On the back of his war-time photos he gives detailed word pictures explaining and commenting on those images. A voice that we never previously heard, is speaking to us now.

The treasured envelope arrives!!

In camp

"Home" for a soldier is wherever camp is - a training base, time off, a  place with mates. The main base was "Hill 95", Palestine, in the photo below. In his deployments throughout Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Palestine, for security reasons none of these camps are named. Every photo is initialled by the Military Censor, indicating it has passed that examination.

"A little snap of our bungalows in this wonderful fertile land, as you can see. You can imagine what it is like as the photo describes it excellently. Love Frank."

"A line up for mess parade. The ink mark is over Leo and I am in the line somewhere. Frank.".

(Leo Cleary was Frank's uncle, but much the same age, and they were good mates)

"Four of us sitting outside our tent where we are at present. Namely from left to right Ken Ball, Arthur Garret, Bluey Warburton, and his nibs. Note Bluey is just getting ready for a shave. Frank.".

"Four of us down at the depot where I am at present after leaving hospital. Namely left to right Arthur Garret, Bluey Warburton, Garry Fogg and his nibs. Bluey is in the midst of a shave. Love Frank.".

"This snap was taken unawares while a few of us fellows or should say gunners were assaulting some beans. The ink marks his worship with hat under the stool. Frank.."

"A few of the boys on a bivouac. Just rising in the early morning. The one under the ink mark is me. Love Frank."

Meeting Mohammadans

These first encounters with Arab peoples convey the sense of being in a different world. The casual racism in the references to "wogs"  grates these days, and the narrative tone also often shows  an intolerance and judgement of local peoples that would be unacceptable today. But there is also wonderment of people and cultures in a world different to anything he had ever known. Frank does use the term "Mohammadam" at one stage  -  a word now rarely used, being replaced by the term "Moslems", a person professing the Islamic faith.

"Out on a route march and managed to get a young Bedouin photo. He doesn't trust the camera too much. You can see me striding across with my shirt open. A grand place. (Oh Yeah).  love Frank."

"This will give you an idea just how these wogs load their donks. They don't leave much space. Sometimes they get on top too. Love Frank".

"Just a nice little handy load, eh. A job to tell who's who. The wog also rides on top. I often wonder what they just do feed the donks on.  Frank"

(same photo, sent to 2 different family members)

"A bit of a shoe shine on the way up. The fellows clean your shoes for about 11/2 d. Love Frank".

(Note : 11/2 d - one and a half pennies - is about 1 cent)

"A wog hard at the plowing. Note the wooden plow. It's wonderful what ground they cover. A fortnight after he had plowed this it was green. The barley doesn't take long to shoot over here. Frank"

"A couple of Arab frontier police. Love Frank"

"The fellow with a business in his hands is a drink seller. The stuff he sells would poison a snake. Love Frank".

(This same photo sent to different family members)

"A couple of  Bints (women) doing their bit. They carry a hell of a load on their head and do an awful lot of work while the wogs wear the seat out of their pants. The wog has to buy his Bints and you can tell the rich......by the number of wives. A great life eh.  Frank".

"Another snap of the wog women (Bints) and a donkey. At times it is hard to judge who carries the most. The wogs sure do make their Bints earn their meals. They have to pay so much for their wifes. You can always tell how rich they are by the number of wifes. A great life eh!. Love Frank".

"A couple of lads helping the wog - or are they? This is called a Gharry.  Love Frank"

"Arab market place Haifa. This is where the boys have some fun bargaining for a long time and buying nothing. Love Frank"

"This little snap is of a couple of young wogs (Arabs). Note the amount of clothes they wear which seems so funny to us as it is so hot. They are dirty young blighters mostly.  Frank"

"A couple of wog shepherds and their herd of goats. Kind of mixed bathing.  Love  Frank"

"This is taken out on a route march. I look to be in an awkward position. All the boys ask what kind of a dance we are going to do. I didn't know they snapped this till after.  Frank"

"The front view of King Farrouk's palace. This is a very poor snap of it.  Love  Frank".

"A few of the kids at a school in Alexandria. Note their V for victory sign with their fingers. Our sergeant in amongst them shown by ink.  Frank"

"A little snap of a few camels feeding around. The picture describes the country well enough without me saying any more.  Frank"

"A few wog kids of a wog village lined up for a race for five mils (11/2d). Boy do they gallop. If one falls down they just run over the top of him."

"This is the type of country we are in at present. Now it is covered with wheat, barley and corn.  Frank"

"The mosque of Omah, a very old mosque. This mosque was taken off the Mohammedans at a certain time and given to the Christians for about eighty years and then restored. It was taken from them for some of the outrages they committed."

"The inside of the mosque of Omah showing rock which is centuries old."

"The mosque of Aksa. These belong to the Mohammedans. This is where they go to worship."

Mates

Listen to any soldier, sailor, airman talk about their time on deployment, and you are struck by the emphasis on mateship. The closeness of the bonds formed at these times is obvious from Gallipoli to the present day.  

As a child, I was aware that dad had army mates, who came to visit at different places we lived. There is no evidence that he continued letter writing after the war, and I surmise that the contact with old mates was haphazard and infrequent. There is a sadness to that.  At some stage, he became a more active member of the RSL, and this became a place of connection with other former soldiers.   He never marched on Anzac Day  -  indeed, he never followed up with collecting his service medals.

These photos of army mates point to close friendships made, but perhaps not sustained through a post-war life that involved continual movements to new homes around New South Wales.

"Taken down at the beach. You can see most of the big six here- Leo, Johny, Les & Bob trying to peep around the corner. Notice Johny's head as he had it shaved.  Love  Frank"

"A few of the boys in our section on a little stroll with respirators on. The ink mark points to his worship (middle front row). It was very hot when we were doing this and the way we were perspiring was nobody's business. Note how tanned the boys are.  Love Frank"

No comment provided. Frank is 2nd from left in back row.

Frank, on right, and un-named mate. 

"On another route march, taken by an old water well. A few of the boys in the section. We are nearly all burnt as much as the wogs. Note all the clothes they wear compared to us. There is a fair stench under those clothes too."

"Leo and "Squiz" at their best.  Love  Frank"

"Here we are swinging along again. We are marching through orange orchards. Don't think for one minute that all the country over here is like this.  Love  Frank"

"A couple of the lads in the olive trees.  Love  Frank"

"The boys around a snow man. I took this photo.  Love  Frank"

"This is a snap of a few of our section out on a route march. I put a little mark on snap to indicate his worship. (Sitting down, 4 from left). As the photo describes the country I will leave you to work out the rest of what we think of it.  Love  Frank"

Working on a truck. No comment provided.

 

Gunners with the Bofors Anti-Aircraft gun that Frank would have used.  No comment provided.

The comment on photo is written by Frank's mother and photo addressed to him. "I would not mind if we had some of the grass here. The bath is slightly small - cramps your style mate".

unknown group  -  roasting food over a fire?

Possibly Frank? This gully possibly a bomb crater?

"Another old snap I found. Three Italian prisoners up in the desert.  Frank"

"Time Out"  -  Sport and Relaxation

These photos give a lovely insight into what has always sustained soldiers abroad - various sporting competitions. Football and cricket were popular, but alas there are no photos of those. But that great soldier "sport" of 2-up is captured, and that other great Australian pastime of "the races"!

"A two up school taken from the Australian Club in Beirut. Where large fortunes are won and lost quick.  Love  Frank"

"This is taken down at (deleted by censor) when the beach carnival was on. The chaps looked wonderful and fit.  Love  Frank"

"All my love. Frank"

"A few English lads having a race at one of the convalescent depots. They have the racing silks on and you could bet on the horses.  Love  Frank"

"Getting ready for the start of a race at Beirut.  Love  Frank"

"Dad, this is a line up of the donks ready to start in the donkey races. Note even most of the jockeys even have the colours and caps on. You can see by the look of the donks that at times they need a charge of dynamite to start them.  Frank"

This race program is a superb example of 'digger humour' and a privileged  insight into soldiers enjoying time off. Its significance as a living document from the AIF campaign in the Middle East in 1941-42, far transcends our own family's treasuring of it.

The race program is donkeys followed by camels, with the same animals in each of the 4 races. One can imagine tired animals by the end of the day.  Look at the names of the 'competitors', and their breeding 'parents' -  a great example of "digger humour".

Frank writes  :  "I rode the winner in this race and couldn't walk for a week. Only for a six inch nail in the wooden saddle I think I would have fallen off. I just about belted the ears off him for the 5 bottles of beer prize."

Encountering the Jewish people.

I have puzzled on the anti-semitism of so many of the comments on these photos, comments which today are very offensive. In Frank's case, where did these anti-semitic views come from? The expression of these views suggests he could surely have had little understanding of the persecution and murder of European Jews by the very Nazi regime, and its allies, he was fighting against in the Middle East. Unless he accepted the view that "the Jews" were in some way responsible for the outbreak of this war, through their supposed control and manipulations of money markets and such like. 

Looking through the names of the 'racing camels' above, there is "Profit", sired by "Jews out of Aussies". Is this just repeating the stereotype of the Jewish merchant ripping off his customers, or also based on experience in local markets?  In any case, it suggests Frank's comments are broadly representative of his mates' thinking.

 My own suspicion is that his views are also formed by his Catholic upbringing. From my own experience, I well remember the Good Friday liturgy in our parish churches, where we prayed for the "perfidious Jews", for the forgiveness of their treachery in betraying Jesus to the Romans and their part in his death. Our Catholic understanding of the Jewish people was rooted in our judgement of them as "Old Testament" people, surpassed by the Jesus of the "New Testament".  Yes, this is very much a simplification of Church teaching, but it resonates with my own experience of growing up Catholic, and the pervasive anti-semitism I imbibed. And then there is the wider societal anti-semitism, centuries old and pervasive in its pernicious influence.  Whatever its causes for Frank, sadly his views are anti-semitic and I regret publishing them now. I only do so because I know my father to be fundamentally a good man, echoing broader societal and religious influences which themselves have been held to account in more recent years.

This is the wailing wall where the Jews go to lament and ask for things from God. They sure do wail and howl. If noise means anything they sure would get the world."

"This is a photo of Racheal's Tomb. She was the mother of the Jews (a dammed pity) and died here after giving birth to the first Jew".

"A snap of the Wailing Wall where the Jews go to ask for promises to be fulfilled from guard (God?). Do these cows wail and howl. I would like to be behind them with a good military boot to give them something to wail about.  Love  Frank"

Postcard : "Tel-Aviv. The Great Synagogue"

"A snap of the synagogue in Tel Aviv. The yids collect here like flys around a honey pot.  Love  Frank"

The Holy Land

Many of the photos and postcards Frank sent home were of places sacred in the Christian tradition. His devout Catholic parents, who nightly went on their knees in the lounge-room to pray the Rosary, would have treasured these photos. "Imagine, Frank walking in the very places Jesus walked".

"Showing the Church of nativity. The ink mark I put on it marks the entrance just a little below where the people are standing. It is only a little square to get into the church as they had to seal the big door back a hell of time ago as the wanderers used to use the church as a stable. This church was also built by Queen Helena."

"A view as you walk into the Church of Nativity. Some of these pillars were brought from the Temple of Solomon. You can imagine how old they are."

"This is the Manger where Christ was born. The spot is under the lamps. The tapestries that you see in the pictures are very old and worth a lot of money."

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"This is also a snap of the Manger. The star actually marks the spot where Christ was born. The star represents the Star of Bethlehem"

"This is the Roman Catholic chapel in the Church of nativity. The monks or whatever they are called in the Church are funny looking blokes. Big beards and mo's and all dressed in black"

"This is a bell in the Church of nativity in Bethlehem which is rung every Christmas and broadcasted throughout the world".

"The inside of an R.C. Church in Jerusalem. Mass is on the time one of our lads took this.  Frank"

"A statue of Virgin Mary. This is all gold and you can see all the precious stones and hearts of gold. Each of the hearts and stones have been given by every country in the world. Valued at 2 million pounds. You can notice all the rings and precious ... on the statue's fingers." 

"This is a little chapel in the church erected in memory of Queen Helena who had the church built first. She was instrumental in the finding of the three crosses on which Christ and three thieves were crucified."

"This is the entrance of a church and as you may notice it is under repair. The church has been destroyed three times. First erected by Queen Helena of Greece. Altogether the jewellery and paintings in this church are valued at twenty nine million pounds. It is built over Mt. Calvary."

"This is the tomb of Christ. In this tomb is where Christ was buried. A very beautiful and awe inspiring place. Over Christ's tomb I lit a candle for you all at home."

"You can see the stone underneath the lamps where Christ was anointed after he was taken down from the cross. Each of the lamps are owned by the different countries and sects and are allowed to burn them".

Postcard : "Jerusalem - The Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives"

Postcard : "Jerusalem - The Way of the Cross"

Postcard : "Jerusalem - The Tomb of the Lord"

Postcard : "Jerusalem - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre"

This is the cover of a religious pamphlet. The "Friars Minor" referred to are the Franciscan monks that Frank mentions in one of his comments on the Church of the Nativity.

Below is the inside of the pamphlet. This prayer, and the leaf from a tree in the Garden of Gethsemane, were highly treasured by Frank's mother

Cities and Towns

Over the period of his 6 months service in the Middle East, from July 1941 until  January 1942, dad moved throughout the countries then known as Egypt, Palestine, Trans-Jordan, and Syria.  The modern equivalents of those countries are today Egypt, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.  We also know he was in Libya, but that was almost certainly an intense period of active duty as an anti-aircraft gunner, and unsurprisingly there are no photos from that place.

Deployment throughout these many countries was for training and relief of other AIF troops already there, but this was not a "hot" part of the war in the period dad was there, and these photos paint a picture of relaxation and being the tourist in places previously familiar only in the world atlas, and bible classes.

Palestine  -  Jerusalem

Postcard :  "Jerusalem - in Old World Jerusalem"

"This is a snap of the "Seven Sisters"(?) on the way to Jerusalem. The turns are very acute and narrow. Notice how all the hills are terraced to stop soil erosion.  Love  Frank"

"A photo of part of the soldiers cemetery in Jerusalem. It is very well kept and looked after. A real credit."

"A street in the Old City of Jerusalem on the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They are very narrow and cobbled stoned which are worn very shiny and slippery. Some of the streets stink a hell of a lot. Nice clean people."

"A view from the Mount of Olives showing the Mosque of Omah and Aksa and the Old City. Looking the opposite direction you can see the Dead Sea from here. Of course you can't see it in this picture. Jerusalem has a wall right around it."

"A view of the dome of the Mosque of Omah.  Love  Frank"

"David's Tower or Citadel of Zion dates back about three hundred years. It is one of the Turkish conquests when the Turks conquered Jerusalem."

Syria  (Lebanon)

"A view of a cafe at Ali which is overlooking Beirut. Not a very good snap.  Love  Frank"

"A snap of a little bit of Beirut, a very nice town in parts.  Love  Frank"

"A view in Beirut.  Love  Frank"

"A street in Aley after the snow.  Love  Frank"

Egypt

"A part of Alexandria. A grand old place. Note the trams.  Frank"

"An old funeral hearse at Alexandria. Take you a long while to get anywhere in this.  Love  Frank"

Palestine - other towns and cities

"This is a view of Haifa which I came across in my wallet.  Frank"

"This snap is taken along part of the promenade of the Tel Aviv beach.  Love  Frank"

"This is a street in Tel Aviv which flatters it a lot. This snap was taken from the roof of the Australia club. You can notice the sea on the right.  Love  Frank"

"Another street in Tel Aviv. Notice the Hotel Hess. There are a lot of German names in the town.  Frank"

"This is a snap of the main street in Gaza the town of stinks and more stinks.  Love  Frank"

"A photo of Bethlehem taken from the Church of Nativity. It is an old ramshackle place. This snap flatters it."

"View of a part of Nazareth.  Love  Frank"

"A few ruins after ?  Love Frank"

(No further details provided)

Christmas 1941

Frank writes : "All the best dad and mum. Tons of love.  Frank"

And to other family members

"Wishing you a very happy Christmas.  Frank"

"Wishing you all a very happy Christmas.  Frank"

Frank Cleary NX21851

"Just another view of my ugly mug. Tons of love. Frank"

"Taken in front of the tent.  Frank"

Papua New Guinea

Dad saw active service in the Pacific War continuously from November 1943 through to February 1945. He had by now been transferred to the Army Engineers, and during this time he was attached to the 2/1 Australian Docks Operating Company, with a classification of "Engine Fitter". The Army had trained him to be a motor mechanic, able to fit, install, maintain, service and repair engines in all the vehicles at the Army's disposal : cars, trucks, tanks, motorbikes.

This service was on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, spreading over a distance of 900km from Buna to Aitape. His work also included driving landing barges, and any soldier can be called on at any time to engage in active fighting with the enemy.

The photos below are few in number and poor in quality. A clear indication that his Pacific War was of a type very different to his Middle East experience.

"A couple of Marys busy washing."

"Natives all dressed up and going to town at a sing-sing"

"Some native carriers"

On his return from the Middle East, Frank was posted to Darwin from March to September 1942. Following that, he married Madge, my mum, on 15 October 1942, and returned from leave in December 1942. Above is the front cover of a card Frank sent to Madge from Papua New Guinea. Below is the centre piece of that card, and the final image is the message Frank wrote in that card.

"Don't get the wrong angle on this scene for the "Marys" are not half as glamourous as view has pictured them.     All my love.       Frank"

Second World War Service Medals

"The 1939 - 1945 Star"  :  for minimum 180 days of operational service

"The Pacific Star"  :  for operational service in the Pacific, between 8.12.41 and 2.9.45

"The Defence Medaql 1939 - 1945"  :  for 6 months service in prescribed operational areas subject to enemy air attack or closely threatened. For NX21851, this included the Middle East, and Northern Territory of Australia.

"The War Medal 1939 - 1945"  :  for minimum 28 days full time service between 3.9.39 and 2.9.45

"The Australian Service Medal 1939 - 1945"  :  for minimum of 18 months service in Australia or overseas.