It was a difficult decision for Eric Chinner to enlist in 1915.
After all, Eric had recently kindled a romance with Gladys Dunn, a fellow clerk he worked with. The smitten couple had planned to marry.
But then in the patriotic fervour of the Great War, droves of Eric’s friends had enlisted. How could he possibly refuse his country’s call?
Before embarking, Eric gifted Gladys an exquisite gold locket that contained his hand-coloured portrait, an engraving of his initials, and his school crest.
No doubt Gladys firmly clasped the locket as Eric’s 32nd Battalion marched through Adelaide’s streets toward the port.
Gladys cherished the locket during Eric’s long absence; it was a constant reminder of her ‘Laddie
By July 1916, Eric’s battalion had been transferred to the Western Front near Fromelles. ‘We are taking part in a great offensive,’ he wrote home. ‘We are the first to go over the parapet...Of course, I'm a bit shaky, but not very scared.’
On the night of 19 July, 2,500 British and Australian soldiers were slaughtered in a hellish attack upon heavily fortified German trenches.
Weeks later, Gladys received the news that Eric was missing in action.
Eric’s father, Thomas, closely observed the grief-stricken Gladys. He watched her tightly clasp that locket while she pondered what had happened to her ‘Laddie’.
Years slipped by with no news.
Gladys would never marry.
Gladys, who lived into her nineties, died in a nursing home never knowing what had happened to Eric. While she rarely spoke about him, she did bequeath the locket to her niece, Sue Leask.
‘I’d often looked at the photo and wondered,’ recalled Sue.
Then in 2008 a burial ground was discovered near Fromelles. It contained the remains of 250 soldiers, including Eric’s, which were eventually identified.
After seeing newspaper reports about the discovery, Sue noted the striking resemblance between the tiny portrait in the locket and one of the soldiers - Eric Chinner.
After an exhaustive search, Sue contacted John Guest, Eric’s great-nephew, and told him of their family’s connection.
At an emotional meeting, Sue returned the locket to the Chinner family.
That 100-year-old locket enshrined all the emotions of war: love, forlorn hope, deep grief, and reconnection.
No comments:
Post a Comment