4503 Lewis Cunningham Knox Rough 26th Battalion was the husband of my foster Nana, I called him Grandfather and he was good to me but I never saw him after I was 7 y/o, he died in 1969.
As near as I can tell he was wounded around Pozieres, a mere 20km or so from where Jack McGregor was killed. For Lew the war ended on the 29th July 1916 when he copped a bullet that ripped along his arm, trimming the bone savagely.
It was a different world back then and men were men and got on with their lives, he carried the legacy of a dud arm plus nightmares and a cigarette habit till he died at what is regarded as extreme old age for a smoker of 74.
He had the legacy of not being fit for full employment but was knocked back when he applied for a invalid pension 30 years later, due largely to not having made a fuss of the injury earlier. It was a different world alright.
I'm very pleased to see some service organisations trying to return the ANZAC day march to those who served, after it having become a free for all for too long.
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