I Was Only Doing My Job: Australia's Military History

19-NOVEMBER-1941, While serving in the Royal Australian Navy as a submarine detector, Able Seamen Thomas Welsby Clark served aboard the Light Cruiser HMAS Sydney II in the Second World War, when the Sydney was sunk by the German commerce raider HSK Kormoran with the loss of all hands. three months later, the unidentified remains of an Australian sailor in a Carley Float would wash ashore on Christmas Island and would be buried with full honours. it would take 80 years for those remains to be identified.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on  Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

18-AUGUST-1917. While serving in the Serbian Army as an Ambulance Driver, Sgt Olive May Kelso King, regularly exposed herself to danger and enemy fire while carrying out her duties to help deliver supplies and retrieve wounded in the dangerous Salonika Front in an ambulance nicknamed Ella, that she purchased herself for the cause.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

8-JANUARY-1952. While serving in the Royal Australian Navy as a gunnery officer, Commander Warwick Seymour Bracegirdle served with distinction aboard several warships of the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy, in both the Second World War and the Korean War, being one of only a handful of officers to receive the prestigious Distinguished Service Cross a total of three times.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and  follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history  hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

17-AUGUST-1915, while serving as a signaller with C Company,  16th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Signaller Ellis Luciano Silas worked diligently at his telegraph set, until he fell ill with what we would now call PTSD. but what he is more famously known for is the detailed and elaborate sketches and artworks he created of the troops on Gallipoli and became an unofficial Australian War Artist.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

11-NOVEMBER-1993 to mark the 75th Anniversary of the end of the First World War, Australia would go on to entomb an Unknown Soldier from the battlefield of France in the Hall of Memory of the Australian War Memorial.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

8-March-1918, While serving as a Chaplain with the 1 Australian Headquarters, Australian Imperial Force, Reverent Senio Chaplain Walter Ernest Dexter, was one of the original 12 chaplains assigned to the Australian Imperial Force and served with distinction throughout Australia's involvement on Gallipoli and the Western Front, going down in history as the most decorated Chaplain in the Australian Imperial Force. He would serve throughout the war. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

8-AUGUST-1918.  On the 8th August 1918, the British Fourth Army under General Rawlinson launched a major attack with French and American units in support agaisnt German positions to the east of the strategic Railway junction of Amiens in the Picardie region of Northern France in an attack known as the Third Battle of Picardy. It was the opening phase of what would become the Allied Hundred Days Offensive that would bring on the end of the First World War. It would be supported by over 2000 guns and more than a thousand British and French Aircraft and would be the largest tank assault of the war with over 500 British Tanks being committed to the battle across 16 kilometres. And in the midst of this display of the industrialisation of war, a platoon of B Company, 29th Australian Infantry Battalion, moved into positions near the recently captured village of Warfusee-Abancourt, ready to participate in the second stage of the advance For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

This Episode was Re-recorded 25-08-2022 10-OCTOBER-1941. While Serving with No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer Peter St George Bruce Turnbull, in North Africa became one of the first Australian Fighter Aces of the Second World War, with downing eight enemy aircraft, an act that would award him the Distinguished Flying Cross.  He would go on to serve in No 76 Squadron RAAF in the Pacific, serving the defence of Milne Bay from Japanese invasion. While he would be killed in action, his devotion to his duty would be an inspiration to all he flew with. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

20-DECEMBER-1915. While serving with the 7th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Private William Charles Scurry, landed at Gallipoli and immediately set out to address a glaring issue with the rumours of the evacuation of ANZAC forces, just how was the 60,000 Australian and New Zealand troops going to get off the beaches without being massacred?  His solution was the invention of a quirky but extremely simple piece of tech that will go down in history as the Drip RIfle. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram @IWODMJ to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

7-SEPTEMBER-1901. While serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers, a British Irregular Mounted Unit, during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lt Harry  Harbord Morant, better known as "Breaker Morant" allegedly ordered the execution of eight Boer Prisoners of War, along with a number of Dutch civilians, and a German Missionary. For this act, Breaker Morant, is one of the first British Subjects, charged, tried and convicted of a War Crime. And while he claimed to be following orders, at what point does just doing your job constitute unlawful killings of non-combatants?  This week we go into his Trial, sentence, his place in Australian Military History and his portrayal in Popular Culture --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

7-SEPTEMBER-1901. While serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers, a British Irregular Mounted Unit, during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lt Harry Harbord Morant, better known as "Breaker Morant" allegedly ordered the execution of eight Boer Prisoners of War, along with a number of Dutch civilians, and a German Missionary. For this act, Breaker Morant, is one of the first British Subjects, charged, tried and convicted for War Crimes. And while he claimed to be following orders, at what point does just doing your job constitute unlawful killings of non-combatants? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

I sit down with Preston Stewart of War Stories and we talk about the joint Australian/American Battle of Hamel during the First World War and talk about the life and service of the 1000th Recipient of the Victoria Cross Pte Henry Dalziel, and Cpl Thomas A Pope US Army, a man who until 2015 was the first US Army infantryman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in the First World War. 4/5-JULY-1918. While serving in the 15th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Gunner Henry Dalziel, a 'second' to a Lewis Gun Team, upon seeing the Australian/American Advance slowed by intense German Machine gun fire, singlehandedly charged the guns, and with two revolvers, "Two-Gun Harry" would become the 1000th recipient to the Victoria Cross.  While Dalziel would serve the length of Australia's involvement in the First World War, by comparison. Cpl Thomas A Pope, while serving in E Company 131 Infantry Battalion 33rd Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Force, on temporary assignment with Australian Forces for training would participate in the Allied counterattack immediately following the German response to the Battle of Hamel, and rushed a German Machine Gun nest single-handed, bayoneted several of the crew and kept the remainder of the German detachment at bay until reinforcements arrived.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

25-OCTOBER-1915. While serving with the 21st Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Private James Charles "Jimmy" Martin, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula and would stay until October, when he died of heart failure at the age of 14 years and 9 months, making him the youngest Australian serviceperson to die in war. --- Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi ⁠https://ko-fi.com/iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast ⁠ Join our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/IWODMJ --- Linktree https://linktr.ee/iwodmj For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net Access to the Discord Server ⁠https://discord.gg/v3Vpb9Fhsj⁠ Find the Podcast on Facebook ⁠https://www.facebook.com/IWODMJ⁠ Twitter ⁠https://twitter.com/iwodmj⁠ Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/iwodmj⁠ Mastodon ⁠https://mastodonbooks.net/@IWODMJ/⁠ YouTube ⁠https://youtube.com/@iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

This Episode was re-recorded on 5/10/2023 29-JULY-1918. While serving with the 29th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Private George Giles, participated in the attack on German positions at Morlancourt. After which, he was instructed to proceed to the headquarters of the 8th Brigade, and surrender his uniform and equipment to the Australian War Records Section. Photographs were taken, and he was issued new equipment. The intent being to 'show how our men came out of the trenches' to the public. Who was the man behind the most famous uniform in the collection of the Australian War Memorial? -- Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi ⁠https://ko-fi.com/iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast ⁠ Join our Pateron https://www.patreon.com/IWODMJ For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server ⁠https://discord.gg/v3Vpb9Fhsj⁠ Find the Podcast on Facebook ⁠https://www.facebook.com/IWODMJ⁠ Twitter ⁠https://twitter.com/iwodmj⁠ Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/iwodmj⁠ Mastodon ⁠https://mastodonbooks.net/@IWODMJ/⁠ YouTube ⁠https://youtube.com/@iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

This episode was re-recorded and uploaded 17/07/2023 25-MAY-1940. While only serving in the 2/17th Infantry Battalion Second Australian Imperial Force for a little over a month, Pte Evelyn Ernest Owen would contribute to the Australian War effort in the Second World War as part of the Central Inventions Board by inventing one of the weirdest, but most reliable machine carbines built during the Second World War, a weapon that would serve as part of the arsenal of the Australian Army for over twenty years, it would sadly outlive its creator, but cement itself in the pantheon of Australian small arms. --- Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi ⁠https://ko-fi.com/iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast ⁠ For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server ⁠https://discord.gg/v3Vpb9Fhsj⁠ Find the Podcast on Facebook ⁠https://www.facebook.com/IWODMJ⁠ Twitter ⁠https://twitter.com/iwodmj⁠ Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/iwodmj⁠ Mastodon ⁠https://mastodonbooks.net/@IWODMJ/⁠ YouTube ⁠https://youtube.com/@iwasonlydoingmyjobpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message