Digger came back from the dead
It must have been devastating for the family of Patrick George Green.
A member of the WA-raised 11th Battalion in World War I, Green - who was known as "Peachy" - was reported in July 1916 as having been killed in action on the Western Front.
His war records, held by the Australian Archives, bluntly state Peachy had "died of wounds".
The following month the records were amended to "previously reported died of wounds, now reported wounded only".
His injury was a "mild" gunshot wound to the chest.
Incredibly, it was one of four times Peachy was wounded. He also fell victim to illness, and was gassed.
But somehow he came home again.
Peachy had enlisted in August 1914, soon after the outbreak of war, and went to Blackboy Hill camp for training.
Aged 22, he sailed with the 11th Battalion from Fremantle on October 31 aboard the Ascanius.
The battalion disembarked in Egypt and 703 men gathered on January 10, 1915, on Cheops Pyramid for a photograph.
_The West Australian _ is supporting a WA Genealogical Society project to name them.
The society has divided a digital copy of the photo into grids, so each man is numbered. Peachy is number 407.
His daughter Noreen Baxter, in consultation with Peachy's family, tell his story on the WAGS 11th Battalion website.
It notes that he never spoke of his war years to his family, except to say how much he respected the Turkish soldiers and that he had been one of the first to land at Gallipoli, as well as recounting how at one time his parents were advised that he had been killed in action.
Peachy arrived back in Australia and was finally discharged from the army on April 25, 1919.
For the rest of his life his physical wounds required treatment but he never complained.
After WWI, Peachy went share farming with his older brother Toby.
When a new teacher, Gertrude Holding, arrived at the local school, she was wooed and won by Peachy.
The couple moved to West Pingelly and had three children before Peachy's failing health forced them to sell and move to a smaller holding at Wundowie.
Despite his poor health, at the outbreak of World War II he tried unsuccessfully to enlist again.
Two of Peachy's brothers and three cousins also served in WWI and many of their descendants have also served and paid the ultimate price in later conflicts.
When the family lived at Pingelly, Peachy would go to the Anzac Day service, but they tell how after moving to Wundowie he would take off into the bush before dawn on Anzac Day and return only after dark.
The family believe they understand why.
"While in Pingelly he was with other originals, mates who understood," the family's tribute on the WAGS site says.
"While at Wundowie he was alone."
Last year, Mrs Baxter, of Brisbane, took Peachy's medals to the Gallipoli dawn service.
"What a wonderful experience," she wrote.
"It felt as if Dad was with his medals and at peace knowing that at last some of his family understood what he could never tell them."
Patrick George Green died on August 31, 1966.
