WW1: Alchin Men Who Had the Courage to Try

 WW1: Alchin Men 

Who Had the Courage to Try

By Garry Norman Smith

A number of Alchin men have varying histories relating to World War One – The Great War.

Among these Alchin men are those who presented themselves for enlistment but were rejected. There were those who returned from war damaged by their experiences. Still others were never really in the fight, spending much of their time overseas in hospitals. 

The Australian War Memorial records that 416,809 Australians enlisted for service in the First World War, representing 38.7% of the total male population aged between 18 to 44 years. At almost 65%, the Australian casualty rate (proportionate to total embarkations) was the highest of the war.

For those men who had the courage to try the motivation was newly born nationalism for Australia, some remnant loyalty to England, and the desire for adventure and to see something of the world.

Clyde John Alchin (1892-1957) was initially described at his first attempt at enlistment as “unfit. Insufficient Chest Measurement”. This was 1915 and although he successfully enlisted in early 1916, his rather poor physique interrupted his active service on the Western Front.

Clyde John Alchin was born at Dalton in 1892, the son of Henry Richard (Butcher Dick) Alchin and Ellen Louise Pollard. 

The Cootamundra recruitment attempt left Clyde determined to try again. The appraisal of his poor physique and weak chest – measured by his chest expansion - lead him to travel to Goulburn for another go. Success!

He enlisted and was assigned to the 55th Infantry Battalion. The 5 feet 3 inches tall soldier and several men from the same district embarked at Sydney on 30 September 1916.

Just before Christmas 1916 Clyde was bound for the Western Front. What happened next, and on several occasions into 1917-18, were interruptions to Clyde’s war due to illness.

Clyde’s “puny chest” and general poor health contributed to his suffering laryngitis, influenza, bronchitis, and acute nephritis (inflamed kidney). He had not responded well to the freezing, foggy, muddy, and gas-filled Western Front. He was not on his own. 

Clyde embarked for Australia on 12 December 1918 and was discharged as medically unfit for active service in 1919.

Clyde John Alchin received a warm welcome home at a social gathering at the Good Templars Hall in Dalton. Along with other returned soldiers he received an inscribed medal and a purse containing 10 pounds.

Clyde is remembered among those who served on the Dalton Methodist Sunday School Honour Board and the Gunning District Soldiers Great War Memorial.

  

Frank Roy (Snow) Alchin (1894-1961) was born at No. 4 Fire Station, Stanmore Road Marrickville, New South Wales. Frank’s father, George James Alchin, was a fireman with Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Sydney from 1890-1919. Frank was one of thirteen children.

    

Frank Roy (Snow) Alchin & George James Alchin

From being a clerk with NSW Railways Frank enlisted in the 1st A.I.F. at Victoria Barracks, Sydney on 30 April 1917.  After  being assigned as a Gunner with the artillery he transferred to 54th Battalion of the infantry.  

Frank was somewhat taller than the rest of his family at 5 feet 10½ inches he was a fair-haired, blue-eyed soldier when he embarked to England and on to France. Frank lasted little time with his unit; he suffered burns on his neck and hands – possibly from mustard gas – and was admitted to hospital.

Frank rejoined his unit from hospital in time to participate in the attack on Mont St Quentin where allied forces attempted to breach the Germans’ Hindenberg Line. Frank’s battalion was sent to capture the town of Peronne.

 

Australian Soldiers of the 54th Battalion in Peronne

Frank Alchin was wounded in action; he suffered a shrapnel wound in the left shoulder. He was ecuated to hospital for treatment that probably saved his life. His war was now over. Back to England then into Headquarters as a Corporal.

On 6 August 1919 Frank married Hilda Kathleen Braine of Fulham at the Hanover Square Registry Office in London. The happy couple were separated when Frank went home to Australia; Hilda followed later but died of pneumonia in 1926; Frank remarried in 1928 to Eileen Stanley Dugdale.

 

Frank & Second Wife Eileen

Frederick Archibald (Archie) Alchin (1892-1975), born at Blakney Creek near Dalton, enlisted in 1916 and went to war in France in June 1917 after training in England. The 45th Battalion was in the trenches in 1917 when Archie Alchin contracted trench fever. He was hospitalised in France and later in England.

What did trench fever mean for Archie? Chief symptoms of this condition were headaches, skin rashes, inflamed eyes and severe leg pains. Several weeks in hospital was common for a problem caused by the excretions from lice. The disease was transmitted via the bites of body lice. Frequent relapses were experienced by some soldiers.

At Dernancourt on the Somme Archie’s unit was fighting through heavy machine-gun fire; the battalion suffered 118 casualties including Archie who was shot in the left thigh and again invalided to England.

He returned to France with the 30th Battalion for the rest of the war – a war which we know had an emotional and physical effect on Archie. Putting aside the many weeks of treatment for venereal disease in 1919 we discover that he returned from the war “a total wreck”. Despite being granted a tract of land near Gunning, Archie never really settled down. He spent what money he earned on alcohol and suffered mental health issues which saw him hallucinate about the war and turn violent at times. His brother Eddie thought that Archie was in “a terrible state” thanks to the trenches.  But he had the courage to try.