Lost secrets of the ANZAC heroes | 60 Minutes Australia

good evening and welcome to a special edition of 60 minutes Ashley vines is like most other 21 year old Ozzie men he loves his sport and has big dreams of course a century ago he would have been on his way to Gallipoli which is exactly what his great-grandfather Ashley vines senior did he would be in the second wave to land at Gallipoli on Anzac Day in 1915 you'd think it's the sort of story that would have been well told down the family line but for nearly a century it was kept a secret until an incredible chance encounter [Music] they could be our sons our brothers our mates just imagine them a century ago as brothers in arms one day leaping for a mark and the next dodging bullets in a trench the thought burns deep for 21 year old Ashley vines who bears the name of one of those soldiers in Gallipoli his great-grandfather in 1914 Ashley senior joined a special unit the public schools company they were school boys one minute anzacs the next landing on day one at Anzac Cove when blood soaked the water and mighty cliffs stood in their way the day that war took revenge on their world and Maj Nations [Music] [Music] the Public Schools company was actually a private schools company students from the elite schools of Victoria came together there were young boys really their final years of school just behind them and it was a roll call of high achievers school captains and duck sirs prefix cricket and football captains you can only imagine how they felt imbued by the best education knowing nothing but success how could they not go and whip the enemy he would have walked those same steps himself and I'd find that rather remarkable on four generations of vines boys went to Melbourne Scotch College today the two youngest Ashley and his dad Richard are on a mission to walk in the steps of the original Ashley vines school record show he was a top athlete a first 18 footballer and the captain of cricket we subsequently found out that he was actually the vice captain of the school in 1910 exactly a hundred years before I was announced as vice captain which is that's amazing here we called in top ANZAC historian dr. michael mckernon to explain what happened after Ashley and his mates left school initially they thought well let's stick together well boys from scotch boys from Norman grammar boys from Xavier etc why don't we go in to form a public schools company and and we'll fight together and scotch boys were in it as indeed was your grandfather your great-grandfather it's amazing the impact that war has the impact was immediate the announcement came on a Saturday as Melbourne Grammar played 40 against Xavier at the MCG the news of the war got to the ground they stopped the game and thought what do we do what happens now there was something much more important or you know that just took their minds completely off their footie [Music] the Public Schools Company numbered 119 men [Music] they joined 21,000 Victorian recruits at Port Melbourne [Music] today the remnants of princes pier rise like tombstones [Music] we all know now that the first Australians arrived before dawn at the wrong Beach and that the enemy was waiting Ashley vines and his public school company mates were in the second wave of landings they would have seen the dead and wounded being ferried out as they were coming in and it would have been clear to Ashley vines that this was a mission not going to plan [Music] Ashley you're not dissimilar to your great-granddad's age imagine what that must have been like no I can't really to be honest I couldn't even imagine ya thinking about getting off a boat with all of those other Australians and almost facing certain death at first they made good ground that were just 200 Turks trying to stop them but their fate was probably sealed about two kilometers away from the fighting in this little farming village yes that's a good question and we're coming up towards Kimmel at Chuck's house Mustafa Kemal atatürk was an up-and-coming military genius roused his men just as the Turkish line was about to collapse so as Ashley vines is coming ashore that's right Ataturk he's waking up but had he not if he'd slept on if he'd slept on I think we'd say the campaign might have gone very differently indeed and this is where he happened to be he was sleeping and somewhere in here he sprang out of bed and began the actual defense of his homeland and he individually rally he went amongst the troops and they said but sir we have no bullets and he said you've got fists you've got rifle butts just get at it and that was again remember how many Turkish men were there Oh bye-bye mid-morning thousands yeah thousands once it's established the Turkish counter-attack is ferocious and the Anzac advance is in chaos soldiers are separated from their units and their offices they don't know what to do or where to go in the pandemonium Ashley vines the elite sportsmen from Melbourne is shot he's severely wounded he loses the sight of an eye he's an artery is severed he is probably going to die but then a mighty stroke of luck an officer from another unit gets to him captain Allen vales and he remembers Ashley they'd been to Kew primary school together it's so coincidental isn't it he happens to be in the same little part of the battlefield remembers him recognizing oh you must be Ashley vines can I help they're in the thick of battle [Music] the hill they're on known as baby 700 changes hands five times during the day and Alan Val's suffering wounds himself begins hauling Ashley back down towards the beach [Music] you can get the distance from here you can see how far he had to go and he must have looked awful cause he's lost so much blood [Music] so begins five painful hours up and down ridges and ravines five hours of blood bravery and bullets vines and Val's who probably sat next to each other in roll call as young boys now fighting for survival I'm absolutely gobsmacked that our mouth and your granddad and great granddad did that yeah I mean I look at that I go really oh boy happen it must have been it's just extraordinary just at all it's um this type of terrain just seems impossible to now see what Alan Bowers did in terms of helping Ashleigh down to the beach it just makes that story that much more immense yeah at last they reached the relative safety of Anzac Cove they were exhausted but alive [Music] is an element of what I call serendipity about it yeah it's not quite coincidence here we are a hundred years later in this story I Alan is you know finally recognized for this and the threat of life was so thin here a hundred years ago and nothing of this might have been for us [Music] ashle vines survived his injuries he returned to Melbourne got a science degree and became a teacher he never spoke of his time in Gallipoli and he never told his family that he owed his life to another man it wasn't until 90 years later that the vines family heard of Ellen Val's Robert Richard good to say is that it was another extraordinary coincidence Alan Val's had a nephew Robert and by chance he met Bob vines Ashley's son they met at a party in 2004 and they got talking I said his name wasn't Ashley wasn't yes and I said and he wasn't blind in one eye was he and Bob said yes he was he lost the side of his eye on Gallipoli so I then said well well my uncle actually saved your father's life so so that was that was the moment wasn't it that's extraordinary thing to say to somebody isn't it doesn't happen all that often I suppose no one of the lost stories of Gallipoli finally made sense for Ashley's grandson and his great-grandson but most importantly his son when I found that that was completely up the creek he thought I got a big surprise so you never asked him you knew that he had this glass eye you knew that he had been injured in the war but you never asked what happened well I never really knew because he didn't discuss things with me maybe the reason Ashley didn't want to talk about that terrible Bloody Sunday lies in his yellow to service record his trauma described as mental deficiency from shock but he was luckier than some one in three of the public schools company never came home [Music] history is really only made of individual stories it's the collection of stories and this is just one story I'm feeling quite moved in the sense that you know my grandfather never talked to my father about this [Music] even though he was only here for a while but he carried I think clearly a lot of trauma in his own strange way and he never talked about it [Music] that moves me a bit that you could do something as significant as this and not share it [Music] welcome back to 60 minutes Graham Mitchell has been searching for a very long time in fact most of his life he's been looking for the woman who was like a grandmother to him sister and Annelle was of short stature but cast a long shadow when the Great War broke out and signed up for the third Australian field hospital and Anne was a mystery to Graham until he stumbled across a series of hidden Diaries she kept throughout the war they would change Graham's life and a Centurion lead him to a family he never knew existed for decades a dusty old box lay untouched in a house in Queensland [Music] no one knew of the personal history it contained about the women of Gallipoli what was in that dusty old books a series of Diaries and I remember lifting the lid and looking at them and thinking and then I started to read into them and I thought wow we've got some history here and I got just that fresh and excited [Music] graer Mitchell from the Sunshine Coast uncovered the writings and photos of wartime nurse sister and Anil the Diaries bring an epic tragedy to life grim stories from a tent hospital near Gallipoli must be like finding treasure yeah absolutely good treasure good Australian treasure found a treasure in Australian woman and why were these Diaries in your house well she was effectively my grandmother this laddie in the corner I thought he should have some special care and I told him he would be mine until his mother came he gave me the loveliest smile but next morning his bed was empty just another one of many there that had made the supreme sacrifice give me a thumbnail sketch over and an l-39 from Cherry Gardens in South Australia enlisted World War one as a nurse and very proud Australian she was a single woman yes no children well my mum was given to him so I suppose she had one after her war service and an L took in and raised Graham's mother in remarkable circumstances for Graham it's always been something of a mystery now he and his fiancee Jan will take the same journey ended from Fremantle a century ago [Music] this was the starting point this was the starting point this is where it started for her and where it finished for her tough she made a point every night of trying to find the Southern Cross until she couldn't see it anymore she was definitely thinking of home now we have left derald free Australia behind all our letters will be censored colonel fiaschi impressed on us the mission of our work there was no such thing as States between us just to United as unit going forth ready to give our best for the Empire you and DeMille wrote in great detail about the voyage she couldn't wait to get to the front line which for nurses was here on the Greek island of Lemnos it is so close to the coast of Turkey the nurses could hear the battles raging in Gallipoli [Music] she must have walked yeah this is exactly as it says in the picture it is still the same yeah like many Australians Graham and Jen had never heard of Lemnos Island its Harbor was the jumping off point for soldiers going to Gallipoli fifty kilometres away they sought help from the Greek locals used Ann's old photos to retrace her steps this was a soldier's funeral but before long the death toll would rise into the thousands and there would be no more time for funerals thank you very much most of the photos depict a desolate windy slope by the harbor that became the third Australian General Hospital Graeme and Jan were desperate to find it they were driven to a deserted corner of the island to an old farm with a few dogs and goats no one lives out here in the relentless freezing wind the facilities were primitive and that's really stretching the word primitive that it was horrible all that remains today is a rectangle of rocks that formed a foundation of sorts for the tents Hey ah okay yes we can say that hello yeah that's amazing a hundred years later it's amazing that's incredible yeah with that yes so the beds and soldiers the nurses about 40 women in all were piped ashore in early August 1915 historian Michael mckernon says they arrived to find very little was ready for them tents and equipment came weeks after they did I think it's extraordinary seeing those photographs of people sleeping on the ground Oh the hospital was designed to take about a thousand men I don't think it was ever less than about 1200 so they had mattresses on the ground so get a bed if you can get a mattress if you're lucky but otherwise there's a bit of patch of ground over there but somebody would had to have cleared the rocks away and there was never enough food unless that is you were a British army officer those offices who are not too far away we're eating food that these are nurses never got ah yes the yes that is right and of course some of them were invited to the officers mess and saw for the first time in months fruit and and chicken and and meat real meat you know not bully beef out of tins well I I just don't know how any one can sit down to a lavish meal knowing full well the nurses are on rations and are hungry are starving they're on half rations and is officially ordered that they will receive half rations and you're tucking into a five-course meal and yet there's no sign of insubordination in these Diaries just a stoic factual account the Anzac women forged the values of compassion resilience and resolve we all suffered with the cold terribly and with all our warm clothing we couldn't get warm personally I shivered for three nights without sleep and the chilblains agony my two small toes were frostbitten then in the daytime most of us just hobbled about I heard one boy say as he saw me she won't stick the winter through he exactly expressed my feelings creating creating words in the middle of the night as cold as they were they were never close I know bitterly cold and hungry and tired making me cry tears yeah I just don't imagine the work that she did here and that she got up every day and put a smile on her face because her main thing was looking after the Australian soldiers I couldn't have done it this heaps of stories about guys and I'm not taking away from what men have done at all I wouldn't do that but there's nothing no there's very little there were men and women at war yes and and Danelle was one of them we don't often hear about the nurses who played such a crucial role in war and Anne was one of those knew she was a little pocket rocket yeah you perhaps her toughest job was nursing young soldiers only to see them return to the fight [Music] this morning we heard the band playing it was the first Brigade on its way back to Anzac after arrest we're sisters gather up all the cigarettes and chocolates and tins of food we can and throw them to the smiling faces as they march by we all know how in their inner heart they dislike going back to all they remember there it makes us feel terribly sad she was a good woman she's a good woman well she's your grandmother no no I loved to have met her well I think you could almost say you have I think in his eyes you got it right on the nose okay very good [Music] after Gallipoli sister and Annelle went with the hospital to the Western Front [Music] once back in Australia you think she'd choose an easy life but Ann went to the frontier mining town of khau Galli in outback Western Australia to work in infant welfare it's extraordinary I've been from Egypt Lemnos Kalgoorlie shared love to you and she wanted to give it to a child many children turns out that one of the children that she would want to give love to is your mom yes there and then a whole different story took off Grahame story his link to and Annelle can be traced back to here the carrot on eHome in Kalgoorlie where and Annelle delivered the baby who would be Graham's mum Thursday Graham has never heard the full story so you've been struggling to fill in the gaps have you I'd love to know to know how your mum came to be within and who I am [Music] the story is that your mum came into Ann's hands yeah because her mother your grandmother yeah I wasn't able to cope she suffered severe post natal depression oh she was baby number nine I know she was one big family and and I think Ann's just simply as a family friend well she stepped up and saying let me help you what ailment yeah exactly [Music] hello hello we discovered this from an uncle and Auntie Graham never knew he had so he took cream and jam to meet them at their home fill in some gaps yeah a suit there seemed like she's some potentially changed your life now potentially about at least she's changed me for the better I'm a better man for knowing her the cause who she was what she did how she stood she's a hero goodbye Lemnos we take away many happy memories of you I wouldn't have liked to have missed you yet I have no desire to see you again [Music] welcome back John Harris Jack to his mates was the youngest Australian to fight and die on Gallipoli but incredibly his story has never been told at just 15 he took a rifle and bayonet and charged at the enemy in the notorious Battle of lone pine how young Jack got to Gallipoli is a tale of trickery and a bit of skullduggery [Music] what happened here a hundred years ago doesn't get a mention in the story of Gallipoli [Music] [Applause] a child who should have been playing with the other kids at school went to war instead just visualize that little kid is grounding up out of a trench down there and on those you know spindly legs I mean a 303 rifle with a bayonet fixed would have been taller than him that little kid was Jack Harris from Cleveland Street public school in Sydney he was 15 today his great nephew David Keshan is about to learn there was more than just boys adventurism that lured Jack to warm the photo he's a baby really best he faced there's a baby face when this boy went and enlisted how come somebody didn't look at that face and say you're kidding well that's a story we have to find out [Music] the story starts in Sydney's inner western suburbs in Holy Trinity Anglican Church a Dulwich Hill nor can separate us from the love of Christ neither tribulation nor distress nor persecution Jack Harris and his parents set in these pews to hear the fiery sermons of a clergyman irish-born Reverend Everard is latouche for I am persuaded that neither death nor life preacher was desperate to swap his clerical collar for an Anzac uniform which is in Jesus Christ our Lord and he swept up young jack in his holy crusade days latouche saw the war more as a religious struggle between good and evil he begged the Archbishop of Sydney to allow him to go and fight the archbishop refused but latouche went anyway and took young Jack Harris with him [Music] and so we have amongst all of those older men this kid who was so passionate about enlisting and fighting that he he went and did it didn't just think about it or driven he actually did it retired Army Major General John Cantwell fought in Iraq went on to run the war for Australia in Afghanistan so that's it attainted Cove look at this is his first visit to Gallipoli we brought him here with Anzac historian dr. Michael mckernon [Music] [Applause] [Music] almost every person who landed on this beach they were under fire for the very first time in their loss they must have been petrified well when I first encountered enemy fire the instinct to go forward is what compels you only lighter if there is a lighter do you have a chance to reflect them you see your hand shaking and you realize what you've just been through now I'm a trained professional soldier well these guys just amateurs literal they didn't come much more eMeter than Jack Harris to enlist he said he was 18 remarkably his father Alfred sanctioned the lie and signed his consent and just seven weeks later 15 year old Jack was on the front line on a spectacular but deadly plateau the single pine tree [Music] when he arrived here surely somebody said you look pretty young well he does look like a little boy and I can only assume that the diggers just cared for him took them took him under their wing and and perhaps attempted to keep him safe that there was nowhere to hide [Music] on August the 6th just 12 hours after landing on the beach young Jack Harris was up in the trenches the man who'd had him under his spell DS latouche brought him here to Lone Pine by 3:30 that afternoon a barely pubescent 15 year old was now in the thick of the most ferocious battle Australians have ever endured this is a matter of fists and rifle butts and clubs I couldn't use bullets because it was so close and are also mixed up that if they use bullets understand the risk of shooting their own of course this is news to you isn't it Benny's order you've got no real knowledge no in this adventure he is just amazing well it's just begun come come with us this is where David Cashion's great-uncle spent the final hours of his short life the enemies were just 90 metres apart the Australians were in trenches behind the cemetery wall just behind the cemetery wall at the back of the cemetery and the Turkish trenches on this side where all those memorial tablets are [Music] the Australians attacked first they got into the Turkish trenches bashing choking and bayonetting among those shot in the first few hours Jack Harris and the man who egged him on to get here [Music] even though Deshler to Sh had written to Jack's mum and dad bowing to protect him he took Jack to the frontline on the very first day I think this man was so determined to fight for God that he convinced the family that that was the right thing to do but it gets worse David and he fights his way into the frontline he insists that he and his men should be placed in it because he wants to die almost every man on the peninsula the first instinct was survival nobody wanted to die but this man did because through his death Australia would be redeemed he has written about this this is not your great-uncle would not have been here I don't think if it wasn't for this man that's wrong hmm I don't want to be hard to get around yeah the question I've got is it this is his cry where is the grave of John [Music] what an experience that that young boy endured he's just a kid stepping over his fallen mates stepping on his fallen mates because they were so thickly carpeted and we we grieve over 41 soldiers from Afghanistan well they were losing that many you know by the minute on some occasions in the First World War so how does a young boy do that it's it's quite humbling to think about this David is your Uncle John all gasp de Mille and you'll note that tombstone the headstone says that he's 18 yeah and that's a nice fiction isn't it yes it is a big feature the first news home to Jack's parents came in a blunt telegram Harris missing believed killed later a Red Cross report said he'd been seen lying just outside the Turkish trenches severely wounded then finally his ID tag arrived when that came home they knew Jack wouldn't they'll be class can how you feel with all this knowledge that your great uncle is here and he died here it's it's difficult to put it in the words to be honest I mean the last thing was is I'm shaking from from that yeah these are difficult stories to tell you have a great uncle that should never have been here no I shouldn't have been he shouldn't have been in this country let alone in the ground well you will be saying goodbye but with greater knowledge well I might be saying goodbye but I'm taking a lot with me a lot [Music] hello I'm Liz Hayes thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusives 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 19,320

Rating: 4.7913041 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, anzac, ww1, world war one, world war two, australian troops, australian soldiers, ANZACs

Id: YU5cVNwiuvE

Length: 43min 14sec (2594 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 23 2019