Millar Buzzard

Appendix 5.0
Military Service World War 1 1915 - 1919

2nd Lieut. Millar Buzzard
Maribyrnong Training Camp, Victoria. 1916

Australia

Millar enlisted in the 1st A.I.F. on 14th October 1915, given a Service Number 12269, and was posted to 31 Depot Blackboy Hill, Greenmount, Western Australia. During the troop build-up for the First World War, the site was a military training camp used to house large numbers of A.I.F. troops.

Millar’s war service records (from the National Archive of Australia) were not in chronological order. However, for when and where Millar was, during his war service, a chronological order of War Service (1915 - 1919) is in Appendix 5.1.

Prior to his enlistment, he underwent a medical examination on 6th October 1915, by Dr. W. S. Myles. Dr. Myles attended many Buzzards over the years and his son also became a doctor and attended Millar’s grandchildren over many years.

On 15th October 1915, at Blackboy Hill, he swore “I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the Australian Imperial Force”. [140]

On 18th November 1915, Millar was posted to the 3rd Brigade of Australian Field Artillery Reinforcements at a Training Camp near Melbourne as a Sergeant. He was promoted from Sergeant to 2nd Lieut. on 1st April 1916.

Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant

Sometime in this period, Millar privately purchased an identity bracelet, which was quite common amongst officers. This was in addition to his Army issued identity discs on a necklace. [141]

Identity bracelet

Transcript:

MILLAR BUZZARD - C. of E. - AUSTRALIAN - FIELD ARTILLERY

Identity bracelet (reverse)

Transcript:

WIFE - MARY-MARGARET (note: Margaret Mary was correct name) - BUZZARD - MOORA - WEST AUSTRALIA

A short video of Artillery Training in N.S.W. can be viewed on the Australian War Memorial website. [142]

He was hospitalised at the No.4 A.I.D. Hospital, in Victoria, on 18th April 1916, suffering from measles and discharged on 1st May and transferred to the Ascot Clearing Depot.

According to his wife, Margaret Mary (in a statement to the probate court in Victoria), he was then transferred to Duntroon Military College. No record of his attending Duntroon can be found. Duntroon has confirmed that the training of all officer candidates was not carried out at the Duntroon College, during this time. Courses were run from other establishments, using the same criteria as Duntroon.

His rapid rise in rank was probably due to his cadet service at Caulfield Grammar School and 6 months with B Battery, Victorian Field Artillery (South Melbourne), before going to Western Australia, as well as his 6 months as sergeant with the Field Artillery Reinforcements.

Overseas Posting

On 11th May 1916, Millar departed Sydney for Europe on the “H.M.A.T. A8” (code for “His Majesty’s Australian Transport Argyllshire”) and arrived in Devonport / Plymouth Dock, England on 10th July 1916 together with 44 officers and 1570 other ranks of the 1st Reinforcements for various artillery brigades.

The Argyllshire Leaving Sydney Harbour 1915 [143]

He and the others on-board the “Argyllshire” embarked on a train for Larkhill, north of Salisbury, on 9th July 1916.

Millar Arrives in Lark Hill Training Camp 1916 [144]

Lark Hill Training Camp and Bulford Hospital [145]

He was transferred to the 9th Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column, 3rd Division Australian Artillery on 24 July 1916.

Reinforcements Sent to France [146]

France

He proceeded overseas to France on 30th December 1916. and was posted to the 12th Australian Field Artillery Brigade (A.F.A.B.), 47th Battery of the 4th Australian Division. His unit was at the time near the town of Longueval, to the east of Pozieres, in northern France.

Appendix 5.2 gives information about the composition of 12th Australian Field Artillery Brigade

On 4th August 1917 he was sent from Belgium to Larkhill for more training.

Millar sent back to Lark Hill for more Training [147]

On 1st October 1917 Millar was promoted to Lieutenant and was “marched out” to the reserve Brigade. On 8th October 1917 he was back in France and reformed with his unit in Belgium. Soon after, on 29th December 1917, he was gassed in an attack, directed by an enemy plane, on his 47th Battery in a wood near Wytchaete, Belgium.

Millar’s Battery (47th) near Wytchaete, Belgium [148]

The War Diary or Intelligence Summary of the 12th Field Artillery Brigade, in Appendix 5.3, gives a vivid description of the gas attack and notes that Millar was ordered to be evacuated on 30th December 1917.

After evacuation from the front line, he was admitted to the No. 1 British Red Cross Hospital in Le Touquet, France on 8th January 1918. This hospital was also known as the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital, and it had 150 beds.

From there he was transferred to the 3rd London General Hospital Wandsworth and stayed from 13th January to 8th February 1918. The hospital was mainly for officers, with 806 beds for officers and 224 beds for other ranks. He was mentioned in a weekly gazette of War Office Casualties on 22nd January 1918, together with Capt. J. A. Fleming who was in the same unit as Millar and was evacuated at the same time.

War Office Weekly Casualty List 22nd Jan 1918 [149]

He went on convalescence leave to the Sutton Veny Training Camp on 7th March 1918 but was back in hospital the next day and admitted to the 750 bed Prince of Wales Hospital for Officers, Marylebone, London. He was finally discharged on 25th April 1918.

On 4th May 1918 he was sent to a training brigade and then back to France, arriving at Rouelles, France next day and eventually re-joined his unit on 12th May 1918.

Yet again he was sent back to England on 4th January 1919 on leave as unfit till 9th February 1919. His orders show he once again left England for Le Havre, France and arrived there on 24th February 1919.

He was released from duty on 8th March 1919 and attended his court martial, detailed in Appendix 5.4.

After the Courts Martial

On 10th May 1919 he was again sent to England and was at Hurdcott convalescent camp on 21st May 1919 for pre-embarkation to Australia. Hurdcott was notable as Australian troops used cement to outline a map of Australia on the hill overlooking the camp.

Hurdcott Convalescent Camp [150]

On 10th Jun 1919 Millar was again admitted to a hospital at 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital, Bulford with syphilis and was later discharged on 12th June 1919. [151]

Diagnosed with Syphilis [152]

Venereal Disease Case Card [153]

Bulford Hospital Record [154]

Millar was released from Bulford on 12th June 1919 and sent to Parkhouse Convalescent Hospital, on the Isle of Wight. He returned on 27th July 1919 to Sutton Veny Training Camp for embarkation to Australia.

Millar set sail on the “Barambah” from Plymouth for Australia, via Cape Town, on 3rd September 1919 as part of a contingent of approximately 700 servicemen returning from the war.

On the voyage home, Millar suffered from boils. He was seen by medical staff on 23rd September 1919 and discharged on 24th but was back again on the 26th and discharged on 1st October 1919.

Cable received advising returning Soldiers

The ship berthed at E-Shed Fremantle, around 10:30am, on 18th October 1919, and Millar was assigned to the 5th Military District (Western Australia) on 19th October 1919.

The day after he disembarked, Millar underwent a fitness test to determine whether the gassing had any permanent effects or if he suffered from any other disabilities. He signed a statement that he had a gunshot wound to his right hip and he was gassed but suffered no disabilities from either. He was declared fit and discharged from the Army on 10th December 1919.

Final Fitness Test [155]

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[140] Around April 1919, following the end of hostilities, the Blackboy Hill camp was turned over to the Health Department to act as a fever hospital, treating Spanish Flu. In the 1930s unemployed relief workers, affected by the Great Depression, utilised the camp. Millar’s half-brother, William Slade Vincent Jnr., was reported on 5th May 1932, to the Repatriation Department, by two plainclothes policemen, as being in the camp as a destitute man and he had been there since Feb 1932. He was using the last name “Miller”.
[141] Only other ranks had service numbers recorded on the necklace identity discs, officers did not. Unlike later wars, service numbers in the First World War were not unique to the individual. Men across units often had the same service number and it was possible for more than one man in a unit to have been allocated the same service number (or been transferred to a unit where someone already had the same service number), which led to the addition of a letter at the end to help differentiate between servicemen (e.g. if three men in a unit had the same service number, the latter two men’s numbers would have a letter added (e.g. 3425, 3425A, 3425B). A man could have two or more service numbers throughout his AIF career. This occurred due to a transfer between units, but often happened when men were discharged from the A.I.F. and later re-enlisted. It was felt wise to wear identification on multiple parts of the body.
[142] Australian War Memorial
[143] Australian War Memorial
[144] Aust. War Memorial – War Diary, Formation HQ, Admin HQ, 3rd Australian Division, June – September 1916
[145] .....
[146] Aust. War Memorial - Nom Roll 9th AFAB Ammunition Column 1916-05-11 Page 18
[147] AWM – War Dairy – HQ Brigade, 12th Australian Field Artillery Brigade August 1917
[148] Aust. War Memorial – War Diary HQ 12th Australian Field Artillery Brigade January 1918
[149] War Office Weekly Casualty List 22nd January 1918
[150] Australian War Memorial
[151] To understand the significance of “social diseases” on troops during World War 1: “The Army’s losses to VD in World War I were enormous. An estimated 63,350 VD cases occurred among the 417 000 troops of the 1st A.I.F. That is, one in seven of the soldiers who joined the A.I.F. contracted VD at some stage of the war. Given that the average VD treatment time was six weeks, the high number of VD infections effectively meant that for six weeks of the war the A.I.F. commanders had lost between three and six infantry divisions. Little wonder that VD perturbed them greatly.”
[152] Aust. National Archives – Control Symbol BUZZARD M; Buzzard Millar: SERN LIEUT 12269
[153] Aust. National Archives – Control Symbol BUZZARD M; Buzzard Millar: SERN LIEUT 12269
[154] Aust. National Archives – Control Symbol BUZZARD M; Buzzard Millar: SERN LIEUT 12269
[155] Aust. National Archives – Control Symbol BUZZARD M; Buzzard Millar: SERN LIEUT 12269