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Something to Remember on Remembrance Day
Finding Pte Roy Barratt
The 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month is worth remembering. The end of WW1, the first industrial conflagration, is memorable and the symbolism of the moment, pausing for one minute is an act of hope. Lest we forget and let it happen again. I have written about the evolution of Armistice Day and its importance in Australia (see the link below). This year, I am fulfilling a promise to myself made when I found the diaries of Roy Kintore Barratt in an Adelaide second-hand bookstore thirty-eight years ago. They sat as seen above, in a cigar box that still smelt of tobacco. I was researching Anzac history, reading militaria and spending days in the Australian War Memorial archives, so I recognised the small thin leather folios immediately. Pocket-sized books filled with fine pencil script, these were illicit records kept by serving soldiers, against orders that forbade written accounts in case of capture.
‘Pte Roy K Barratt, XI Field Ambulance, 3rd Australian Division, On Active Service’ was written clearly inside the front of each book. With the books were two service medals and memorabilia like train tickets and postcards.
