Way We Were: Letters from the frontline reveal horrors of war

Eleven of his family members fought in great wars past. Now this Brisbane author is tracing their exploits – and exposing the horrors of war – through letters from the frontline.

THERE will be no public commemorations for Anzac Day this year due to an invisible enemy that has created global carnage unprecedented in our lifetimes.

But maybe we could all stop for a moment next Saturday and remember the courage and commitment of so many Australians who endured much tougher times than most of us will ever experience.

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Brisbane author Adam Holloway’s Duty Nobly Done commemorates the war experiences of 11 members of his family, the author’s great-grandfather Ernest “Noog’’ Holloway, Ernest’s brothers Henry (Chick) and Bill, and eight of their cousins.

Three of the 11 died on the Western Front, and two of them lie in unmarked graves.

The author, who has spent 25 years as a professional investigator and is the son of a Vietnam veteran, spent more than six years researching their stories and writing his book, delving into the correspondence of the men and retracing their steps on the battlefields they trod.

It was time well spent, producing a fascinating portal into the minds and hearts of ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things in a time of monumental upheaval.

In 1916, Corporal Frank Holloway, a cousin of Adam’s great-grandfather, wrote home to his parents in Roma from a bloody battlefield in France.

He had survived the bloodshed on Gallipoli, which began on April 25 the previous year, but told them that was “a picnic’’ compared to the fierce fighting he now faced.

“We have just been in action again,’’ he wrote.

“At times, it seemed as if it would be impossible for an ant to live in it, much less a man.

“However, I have been once again spared to come out safely.

“No doubt you will have seen some of the pictures taken after the recent fighting here in France.

Frank Holloway in his army uniform

“If so you get a fair idea of what the country looks like after a bombardment; it is just as though there had been a great earthquake, and the Earth had been thrown up to the sky, and fallen in great heaps.

“At times it is almost impossible to make yourself heard above the roar of the shells. It is wonderful how our boys stand it. We got some awful bombardments, but they laugh and joke through it all.

“One night, two other corporals and myself were sent with a party to take rations and water out to the frontline. To do this we had to cross 200 yards of open country, which was riddled with shell holes.

“It was rather difficult going, but things were going on A1, with a few shells dropping around, until we got halfway across, when, all of a sudden ‘Fritz’ threw up his searchlights, and we were spotted.

“Then, we got it; it seemed as if all the guns in Creation were turned on us. The shells burst so continuously around us that they lit the place up like day. However, we broke all records over the next 100 yards of shell holes, and at last stumbled into the front line trench with our rations, and not a man missing.

“It shakes one up at times, but our men never lost their spirits. I lost one of my best friends, killed, just before we came out of that ­engagement, Corporal (Alister) Ross, a fine bright young fellow … I am sending you his photo to keep for me. Well, I celebrated the second anniversary of my enlistment for active service a few days ago, and at the end of two years, as I look back I have much to be thankful for.’’

Duty Nobly Done, by Adam Holloway, Big Sky Publishing, $35. Signed copies are available at adamholloway.com.au

Author Adam Holloway checks out a World War I German bunker.

Originally published as Way We Were: Letters from the frontline reveal horrors of war