Monday 8 February 2016

Message recently received from Pam von Auloch



This story relates to a presentation by scholars from Glenwood Boys High who took on a project researching WW1 Rugby players who lost their lives.

"Last night I attended a Moths meeting which was followed by an excellent presentation by three Glenwood High boys about the Rugby WW1 players who lost their lives.

They have done all the research themselves together with their History Teacher who gave them this project when they found out that during the first WW there were several soldiers that were Natal Rugby players and so they set out to find out more about the 44 who lost their lives. it was so interesting to see the young men with all the old “toppies” and myself, the only woman present. I went for the evening because of the invitation I received and also out of curiosity due to my great grandfather being in the Boer war and he lost a son in the 2nd WW. My grandfather served in the 1st WW, my father served in the second WW in France and Dunkirk. My father in law (German) served for Germany in Russia and had finger shot off which sent him back, lucky for him in that way when you know what happened to thousands of others. My nephew serves in the Australian Air Force as a fighter pilot (Iran and Iraq) plus he is a bomb disposal expert and is at present in Hawaii teaching a course for the Americans. So you could say we are a fighting family in one way or another although the only one who enlisted is my nephew all the others were conscripted. At present my nephew is researching family history in order to claim medals from my father and grandfather who decided at the time not to claim them, for whatever reason.



Roland, I would appreciate it if you could send me details of the History teacher and how to get hold of him as I think it would be interesting for my club the ANZA Australian and new Zealand Assoc. to hear what they have to say. Needless to say our members have either children in Oz and NZ or relatives, or who have lived there or are actually nationals but live here, in other words they have a connection to the countries.

With Aussie and Kiwi troops being active in WW1 and celebrate that fact on ANZAC Day (a public holiday in OZ and NZ) April 25th. it is respected here and we have our own ceremony at NMR every year on April 25th with a dinner afterwards. Roland should you wish or any of the other Moths wish to attend please forward your email details to Gina our secretary so that she can keep you in the loop regarding our activities.

thanks for a nice evening.

regards

Pam"

Here are a few images taken at the presentation (click to enlarge)



















Images can be seen at Picasa
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/

1 comment:

Andy Tribe said...

Thanks Pam.
There is a strong synergy between many Commonwealth Countries who share stories of World War 1 recognising service men and women who lost their lives during WW1.

Commemorative service are growing in stature and are held all over the world. ANZA-KZN Commemoratives ANZAC Day each year is hosted by Natal Mounted Rifles.

Many thought that such commemorative events would fade away over time. However these events always attract relatives, descendants and many more who respect the patriotic sacrifice these men and women made.

ANZAC Day will be commemorated next on 25th April 2016 - 101 years after Gallipoli.