Previous Chiefs' Speeches/Presentations
ADDRESS TO LAUNCH JUST SOLDIERS BY DARRYL KELLY
by
GENERAL PETER COSGROVE, AC, MC
19 April 2004
Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is with great pleasure that I am here today, to launch Just Soldiers by WO1 Darryl Kelly.
Just Soldiers is a celebration of the spirit of the Australian Digger. The men and women who come alive in the pages of this book are not the bronzed icons of the Anzac myth. Rather, they embody the gritty reality of ordinary Australians who felt compelled to do the extraordinary.
The soldiers in these stories are real, as are the families they leave behind, many of whom never fully recover from their loss. These are not the stuff of legend; they are the small, forgotten people who, but for a quirk of fate, would have remained greengrocers, farmers and tram drivers.
People like 2Lt Henry 'Ernie' Eibel who, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, was a farmer from southern Queensland. Known as the Iceberg, due to his composure and cool demeanour, he fought gallantly at Gallipoli and at the Western Front, where tragically he lost his life.
This book highlights that most did not rush headlong into what they regarded as life's great adventure: seeking fame and glory. They were simply caught up in the fervour of time, following their friends, their beliefs, or just hoping to make a difference. Yet, their lives celebrate the potential of ordinary people-those who have both the opportunity and the ability to rise above the safety of their own expectations.
Ordinary people like Captain Frank Bethune, MC, who wrote the now-famous Special Orders to his section when under attack from the German Army, a man who showed his men strength in courage in the face of extreme adversity.
Just Soldiers demonstrates that when called on to perform the extraordinary, these Australians are capable of incredible courage and ingenuity, often surprising even themselves. These are their stories; tales of disappointment and hardship, of fear and grief; and of loss and mind-numbing heartache.
Equally, these are stories of the triumph, of raw courage, resourcefulness, and, above all, mateship-those qualities that individualise the Digger and that have come to be regarded as quintessentially Australian.
Diggers like Lance Corporal Francis Curran, DCM, who became legendary at Gallipoli by catching in-coming bombs mid air-as easy as you would a cricket ball-before pitching it back over the enemy lines with deadly accuracy.
Conclusion
Congratulations Darryl on writing such a compelling book. You have captured a pithy humanity in these tales of death and survival, of honour and deceit. You have characterised these men and women through their humour, irreverence and the larrikin sense of the absurd that typified the Digger-approach to the hardships of war. By accessing personal diaries, your accounts of these Australians are vivid and heart-wrenching. It gives us a valuable insight how soldiers, in times of war, deal with death on such a horrendous scale. And importantly, you have captured the true character of these soldiers.
The people in this book saw themselves not as heroes, but as ordinary Australians 'doing their bit'. In the laconic understatement typical of the Digger, they were 'just soldiers'. The truth is so much more.
It is now my great honour and pleasure to launch Just Soldiers, by Darryl Kelly.
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