TWO young boys carried the legacy and memory of their forebear on their chests yesterday.
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Far from being forgotten, Lance Corporal Lindsay Murray was uppermost in the minds of his four time great nephews, Lachlan and Max Murray at yesterday’s Anzac parade in Goulburn yesterday.
Pinned to their chests were replica medals awarded to LC Murray who was killed in France in July, 1916 while serving with the 53rd Battalion.
Historian Bob Piper detailed his story, and that of Private Percy Ings in Wednesday’s Goulburn Post.
The two Breadalbane soldiers were killed within a week of each other, aged 23, in France and are commemorated in monuments at the village’s Anglican cemetery.
While Mr Piper cleared the overgrown monuments, descendants of the two men have said the soldiers have a proud place in their families.
Local butcher Bill Murray has the portrait hanging in his Union St shop as proof. Lance Corporal Murray was his great, great uncle.
“He’s definitely not forgotten,” he said.
“I have his war records and we talk about him in the family.
They’re sometimes sad stories.
He survived three days after he was shot.” LC Murray was reported missing at Pozzieres. He was found wounded and after his death, buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery in France.
Mr Murray described his great uncle as a brave and upstanding man who was among the first to put up his hand for enlistment. He was one of 10 children, including four boys.
Bill’s father, Lindsay, was named after him.
Each year Bill’s grandsons, Lachlan, 12, and Max, nine, march with their forebear’s replica medals in the local Anzac march. Mr Murray has the originals.
“It’s a tradition we like to keep going,” he said.
Meantime, Private Percy Ings was a half brother to the father of Goulburn man, Paul Ings.
He was a carpenter and joiner with Ibbotson and Portus when he enlisted for army service on July 22, 1915 at Liverpool.
He served with the 8th Company Australian Machine Gun Corp, embarked on the troop ship ‘Beltana’ on December 11, 1915 and disembarked at Marseilles on June 23, 1916. Private Ings was killed in action and buried at the Sailly sur la Lys Cemetery, southwest of Armentieres.
Mr Ings has obtained the soldier’s war records, which detail items recovered after his death. They included an identity disc, fountain pen, metal pencil case, a card, photos, films, wallet, chain, pendant and a handkerchief.
On August 21, 1916 his father, Edwin, wrote to the war office: “As I received the sad news of my son, No 909, Pte PE Ings Machine Gun Co 8th Brigade, being killed in action in July, 1916, I would be very thankful if you could forward me fuller details of his death and the country he was killed in.” Mr Ings has taken a strong interest in the military history and up until some years ago, looked after the Breadalbane monument. That was up until a local landholder stopped him from doing so.
“The lettering used to be in lead, which had faded so I went over it in black paint about 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.
Before then, his father maintained the monument.
Mr Ings is contacting Mr Piper for more information and plans to visit the Australian War Memorial to undertake further research.
