Royal’s WW1 Gaza message survives burst shells and battlefields to find way back to Robinson family in South Australia
ROYAL John George Myren kept a promise to his best friend Dick Robinson, who died in his arms at Gaza during World War I.
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AS HE lay dying, Dick Robinson asked his mate Jack Myren to tell his loved ones how he met his end.
When Myren returned home after four long years fighting with his mates of the 9th Light Horse, he wrote about that fateful day at Gaza in Palestine.
“Dick was hit twice that day,” Myren wrote of April 19, 1917.
“He was first hit early in the afternoon by a grazing bullet in his ear. I told him to go back out of the firing line and report it but he refused.”
Robinson was then mortally wounded by a shellburst.
“I helped to carry him out just a short distance, he asked me to stay with him,” Myren wrote.
“As he was sinking, he put his hand up to me and said ‘Jack, if you get back tell them at home how I died’.
“I can tell you it was tough, being such a mate as Dick was.
“We were together all day in this terrible battle, and being together at this tragic moment, I am sure, as I looked at him, he knew that he was finished.”
The pair had grown up together in Meningie and Robinson and his five brothers all served in the war, Dick being the only one not to return.
When Myren made it home he eventually bought the Robinson family farm, Granite View, and raised his four daughters there with wife Florence.
Myren was born on August 5, 1889, and was quick to enlist in the Light Horse.
Myren’s second-eldest daughter Margaret, 82, says her father was always known as Jack even though his name was Royal John George.
With a name like that, her father was always destined to serve King and country.
“He was a great horseman, my dad,” Ms Myren, of Marleston, said
“He had us all on ponies before we could walk.”
He served at Gallipoli and in the Middle East or, in his words, “spent five years in the lands where the Bible was lived and written, and our religion started”.
He was awarded a Military Medal for showing “great dash and gallantry” to uncover information about enemy troops at Beersheba in June, 1917.
Ms Myren said her father, who died in 1975, was greatly loved by his family.
“We’re very, very proud of our dad, extremely proud.
“When you think of what he went through – how did any of them come back?
“He was a great fellow, full of fun and a great, great father.”
Sgt Jack Myren reports on his best mate’s death
“Dick Robinson was killed on the 19th of April 1917 in that awful second Gaza attack. We made two attempts to take Gaza. The first one was on the 26th of March 1917. Those of us still living will never forget Second Gaza. We had 16,000 casualties on our front of about five miles. We had reinforcements join us, on the night of the 18th at 10pm, and some of them were killed before daylight – they never saw the colour of their horses.
We were under machine gun and artillery fire all day until dark. About half of our troops were either killed or injured. It was a very hot day and we only had one bottle of water. Dick was hit twice that day, he was first hit early in the afternoon by a grazing bullet in his ear. I told him to go back out of the firing line and report it but he refused. I helped to carry him out just a short distance, he asked me to stay with him. As he was sinking he put his hand up to me and said “Jack, if you get back tell them at home how I died”.
I can tell you it was tough being such a mate as Dick was. “How he had the energy and courage, to remember and speak of his loved ones, and to offer his hand to me?” Well this is my answer. First, I think, because we were always together, if we got Cairo and Port Said leave, we would go together, and anytime that I was detailed to take a patrol, being a sergeant, Dick would be my first man.
I remember on one occasion, when my officer Lieutenant Shaw gave me the job to take a dispatch to an outpost, we had to travel through no man’s land. The only bearing he could give us, having no compass, was that his outpost was three degrees south of sunrise. We made it and delivered the dispatch. Another point was that we were together all day in this terrible battle, and being together at this tragic moment, I am sure, as I looked at him, he knew that he was finished. He was the greatest mate I ever had (may I add that it was 4am when we set off with the dispatch, quite dark ... also that it was a piece of shell that killed Dick). I saw a chap by the name of Elsdon killed that day, and he never had a mark on his body. He was killed instantly by the concussion from a dud shell.”
Originally published as Royal’s WW1 Gaza message survives burst shells and battlefields to find way back to Robinson family in South Australia
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