On their deaths, those men left 49 children fatherless and the Cumberland RSL sub-Branch would like to contact these descendants.
So far the sub-Branch has only made contact with relatives of single men who died in the war.
Sub-branch member and author of ‘Auburn Remembers’, an insight into local men who paid the ultimate price, Ron Inglis said there would be no public ceremonies ahead of Remembrance Day this Thursday over Covid fears but he has prepared a six-minute audio address for schools that may be hosting their own events.
“It offers an explanation as to how Remembrance Day celebrates the end of the First World War and how it is important to take a private minute at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month (November 11) to remember those brave young men who gave their life after our government rushed into the war with great enthusiasm without considering the cost,” he said.
The married men known to have children (according to pension records in their service file) were: Ernst George Beesley, William Samuel Brown, George Derome, George Campbell Gear, Samuel Eric Grindrod, William Henry Harris, Alfred Philip Hicks, Henry Hodgkinson, Alexander Hood, William James Johnson (former Auburn Mayor), Robert Edgar Lamb, James Vernon Mathieson, John Robert McGregor, William Henry Mills, Charles John Ramsay, John James Remilton, Arthur Sheppard, Horace Hilton Thoroughgood and Robert Leslie Wilson.
If you are related to any of these men, or are a school seeking a copy of the Remembrance Day address, call Ron on 0437 385 135.
