Page 34 - Chiron Autumn 2017

Nigel Allsopp Winner 2017
ANZAC of the Year Award
The ANZAC of the Year Awards are made annually to recognise the efforts and achievements of up to seven Australians who have given service to their fellow Australians and to the community in a positive, sel ess and compassionate manner.
The awards may be made to individuals or groups who have demonstrated the spirit of comradeship and sel ess service embodied in the tradition of ANZAC. Judging Panels Selection panels are established in each State Branch. Each State Chairman is the President of the State RSL Branch who with four other leading members of the community forms the state panel. The State Branch nominations are referred to a National Committee comprising the National President and the National Secretary of the RSL, the Of cial Secretary to the Governor- General of Australia, the Assistant Secretary of the Honours & Awards Branch of the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet and two other leading members of the community appointed by the National Headquarters of the RSL, who bring to the task a wide ranging expertise in their own elds of endeavour.
For Australians by Australians With a membership in excess of 170,000 with additional membership within the Women’s Auxiliary the RSL occupies a unique position to reach into the community at large. With some 1400 Sub Branches throughout Australia, many of which form a focal point of the community activity in their town or suburb, the League believes it can reach and honour those Australians whose work for others typi es so closely to the spirit and traditions of ANZAC yet who often go unrewarded.
These awards are designed so that those men and women amongst us can be recognised and honoured at a national level based on the recognition and nomination both of members of the Recognised and honoured at a national level based on the recognition and nomination both of members of the RSL and also those within the community at large of which the RSL is such a major and visible part.
Nigel’s awards reads: In recognition of his inspiring and dedicated commitment to the establishment of the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation and its initiatives.
Australian MWD Roff WW1
On 3 May 1918, Corporal M Roach and Private R Conway of C Company, 13 Battalion AIF, who were in an advanced post in trenches outside Villers-Bretonneux (Sector P.25.c.8.6), France, enticed a German message dog into their lines. The dog had a message on its collar when it was captured, which was quickly removed and sent to headquarters for translation, but the dog escaped. It was recaptured shortly afterwards by D Company.
The message he carried was from a German platoon commander in the front-line, complaining that his men were tired and had not had food for 48 hours. His company commander had folded it back and written; ‘Weber has been in longer than you, and he does not complain. We will send you food tonight. Give Roff any further messages. He does not complain.’. ‘Roff’ remained with the unit as a mascot from May to September, attached to the Quartermasters Stores. A set of harness and an improvised cart were made for him by the section, and he used to carry stores for the staff, until he became savage and was sent to England with a view to having him transferred to the Sydney Zoo.
Colonel D G Marks, 13 Battalion AIF, placed him in quarantine at the Bitterne Manor Farm Quarantine Kennels, in Southampton, England, on 19 September 1918, where he was cared for by Mr W A Della Gana, the Veterinary Of cer for the Commonwealth of Australia, but it was soon discovered that regulations forbade the importation of dogs to Australia and he remained at the kennels. He developed a big abscess on the side of his neck in September 1919, which apparently healed, but he developed a swelling on each side of the throat and became extremely thin. Roff died on the night of 14-15 October 1919. A couple of days later it was decided to have him stuffed and mounted by Roland Ward Ltd, Taxidermist, of 167 Picadilly, at a cost of eight pounds.
The mounting was completed on 26 November 1919 and he was sent to Australia, where he was displayed at the War Museum in Sydney during the 1920s.
32 CHIRON CALLING
RAVC History
By Rob McIntosh
The story is progressing well though, at times, ‘writers block’ has reared its ugly head. In order to acquire historical information relating to operations conducted over the past few decades research forays to the Army Historical Branch (AHB), Whitehall, have been necessary.
In order to achieve this an upgrade in my security classi cation was required which, understandably, took some time to process but once approved the door has opened to an Aladdin’s cave of useful archive material.
The archives, located several levels underground accessed via a labyrinth of passages, include not only those of recent operations, but those of earlier con icts i.e. Borneo which will provide further information and insight into these earlier encounters. Terry Hissey, to whom I am most grateful, from the AHB has been most accommodating indeed in his assistance.
Regarding the role of the WRAC ‘kennel maids’ and that of the Mixed Service Organisation (MSO), if may I would like to peruse some of your stories and would appreciate some written testimony, even just a few paragraphs, via the Regimental Secretary, relating your experiences when attached to the Corps.
To date the book is on schedule for publication in the Summer of 2018 to coincide with the centenary celebrations of the formation of the Corps.