Almanac Life: Private Clement Reginald May

 

 

(Image courtesy of the May family)

 

 

This year marks 100 years since the birth of Private Clement Reginald May.

Clem, younger brother of my grandmother didn’t live to see 100.

My Grandmother did.

A couple of siblings made their 90s.

The last of the family, Donald, passed away this week at 83.

But Clem didn’t get close.

Clem only made it to 22.

 

In my youth, Clem existed via a family portrait from the early days of the Second World War.

Older brother Les looks the part in his AIF uniform, with the sure stare and hint of a grin.

Clem, three years younger, looks quieter.

Just as tall and strong as Les, yet uncertain.

As if somewhere deep in his soul was an inkling of his fate.

 

Les had enlisted in the first month of the war, almost as soon as the news reached him working in Broken Hill.

He saw the Middle East and New Guinea.

Les made it home, but the war still took a toll.

He headed bushed and lived for another 50-odd years.

I was 26 when he died but I only met him once, about ten years prior.

The AIF soldier from the portrait had evolved into the hardened old bushman.

 

At the outbreak of war, it had already been a hard 18 years for Clem.

Born into a tough farming life outside Balaklava in the mid-north.

Boyhood into the depression.

Late 1930s the family treks overland.

From Balaklava, across The Hummocks and down the Yorke Peninsula to Minlaton.

85 miles, an hour and a half at most today.

Five days on foot with the livestock back then.

 

1942, the war rages on.

Clem turns 21 and joins the fight.

2/43rd Battalion.

Farmland gives way to desert.

Egypt and the Middle East.

The 2/43rd had already seen Tobruk.

El Alamein is added to their battle honours.

Clem is in the vicinity, but on the sidelines for now.

His time will come.

 

1943 dawns and the 2/43rd are coming home.

New Guinea beckons.

The desert gives way to jungle.

Finschhafen and the Huon Peninsula, 400 miles north of Kokoda.

The Japanese, driven from Lae, have regrouped here.

Lae, Finschhafen, Sattelberg, Scarlet Beach.

If Balaklava to Minlaton is five days, then these places would not even have existed.

Yet Clem would be forever tied to them.

 

The middle of October 1943, the Japanese counter attack is coming.

Scarlett Beach, the mouth of the Song River.

The 2/43rd have the coastal position, north of the mouth.

Their brothers in the 2/28th Battalion have the mouth and the cove.

The Japanese hold the high ground, five miles inland at Sattelberg.

They will also come via sea, in barges from their positions further north.

 

17 October 1943.

The Japanese counter attack is on.

Sandbars and the heavily defended coastline will hold off the assault via sea.

The war records report that some Japanese troops in the barges were carrying flame-throwers.

They didn’t have those on the farm at Minlaton.

Clem’s fate will be decided.

In the end it comes down to three words.

Died of wounds.

Three words that convey images of so much pain.

 

To die of wounds means that you made it off the battlefield.

No quick death.

Killed in action and it may be brutal, but quick.

You can die where you fall.

Died of wounds means you likely knew the end was coming.

It is just a matter of time.

 

The Regimental Aid Post at Battalion Headquarters.

A mile north of Scarlet Beach, still in the thick of it.

Lying on the ground in a makeshift RAP is no place to die.

A medic is doing what they can.

Pain and blood mixes with grief and fear.

Mud, rain, noise, fire as the battle continues outside.

The pain and the surroundings must be unbearable.

Maybe there is acceptance in the end.

 

Clem now belongs to these faraway places.

Died at Scarlet Beach.

Buried at Sattelberg.

Moved to Finschhafen.

A final resting place at Lae.

Clem remains 22.

It was a hard 22.

 

 

 

The author at the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour (November 2009)

 

 

End note:  The Australian War Memorial records show that the 2/43rd Battalion was awarded a Battle Honour for the defence of Scarlett Beach from 16 October 1943 to 28 October 1943.

 

The description being that this Battle Honour was awarded to the units that successfully defeated a Japanese counter attack against Scarlet Beach. Attacking along a wide front, the main Japanese thrust was made between the Song and Siki Rivers, where groups broke through the Australian lines and reached the beach. The Japanese attack eventually failed and by the end of October 1943 the main force withdrew to Sattelberg, suffering heavy casualties.

 

 

 

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Dour opener and close-checking fullback. Peaked early.

Comments

  1. A wonderful tribute, Greg, poignant and touching.

  2. KIMBERLIE ANDREW says

    Beautifully written

  3. Poignant. Powerful.
    Australia has fought “small” wars since. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. We maybe knew one or two people who fought there.
    WW1 & WW2 were “big” wars. Whole communities were involved and many decimated.
    That impacts how we remember them. Effects that ripple out well beyond soldiers into families, communities and dare I say – footy clubs. North Fremantle and Midland Junction were working class clubs where many enlisted. They couldn’t field a team in 1919 and despite promises were never readmitted to the WAFL. Lest we forget – indeed.
    Thanks for keeping memories alive. Being old enough to know the fathers, grandfathers and uncles who fought in the “big wars” keeps it alive in my memory. As generations recede that connection to pain and sacrifice inevitably becomes more abstract and intangible.

  4. Excellent piece Greg. What a terrible time for our young men. Even some of those who came home were still lost to the war.

  5. Beautifully written Greg.Thank you.Very moving.My mother,,your grandmother would have been proud of you and thanked you for your research into her favourite brother.She always missed him.

  6. Excellent. Moving. Thanks, Greg.

  7. Marie Ludlow says

    Gone, but not forgotten. Thank you Greg for keeping our family history alive. Thorough research and a beautifully written piece.

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