The Story of My Grandfather PRIVATE KEN MCKAY WX3836 By Melissa Zappelli Official Army Photograph of Private Kenneth McKay, WX 3836 This is the story of of my Grandfather, Ken McKay, my Dad’s Dad. When Australia joined Great Britain by declaring war on Nazi Germany in September 1939, my Grandfather was a young man enjoying the prime of his life with a beautiful wife and new born baby son. Like almost all men of the right age, he answered the call to arms and signed up to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), as an adventurous young soldier eager to see the world and prove himself by fighting for King and Country. It was barely a choice, yet that action would profoundly change his destiny and that of those who loved him. This is a story of courage and love, of the enduring brutality of war and the effects of tragedy on one family. It is the story of a fallen boyish hero with an impish face, pieced together from the fragmented glimpses that have survived the relentless erosion of time. A synthesis of faded memories, decaying letters, battered photographs, family stories, war history and military documentation. There is just enough to establish a sense of who my Grandfather was. It is all that we have. Copyright First Published in 2018 by Melissa Zappelli Website; www.melissazappelli.com © Melissa Zappelli 2018 The moral rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and detailed in the disclaimer below. All inquiries should be made to the author. Disclaimer This is a free e-book. You are free to view, download, share and print this work in unmodified form for personal use. This is a work of non fiction compiled from many sources including family memories, family stories, letters, photographs and military records. It is written with the intention of recording family history for future generations. While every endeavour has been made to portray events accurately, the eroding nature of time has made complete accuracy impossible. Perceptions, opinions and assumptions contained in this work are mine alone and do not necessarily represent those of the individuals involved, or other family members. An envelope kept by Nan, containing letters from her husband, Ken McKay written while he was abroad as part of the 9th Division in the Middle East, 1941. Source; Family Documents In Memory of Private Kenneth McKay I have been fascinated by the life of my Grandfather, Kenneth McKay for many years. Without him I would not be here, and without an understanding of his life I would have far less knowledge of myself and my family. I have written this work with the primary intention of recording all information, research, memories, stories, letters, possessions and photographs relating to my Grandfather in one place. This is an attempt to draw a picture from the eroded fragments of time, and with that to honour my Grandfather’s courageous young life. A Tribute to Private Kenneth McKay, WX 3836. God endures forever, The life of man is short. The Pleiades are overhead, The moon is among the stars. The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters in Taurus. My favourite constellation. I wonder if my Grandfather gazed up at these beautiful stars too? Source; Alamy Stock Photo. Table of Contents In the Beginning 5 The Battle For The Salient 60 Falling in Love 6 The Strongpoints 61 A Baby Boy and the Outbreak of War 7 The Salient 62 The Munich Agreement 8 Sugar 6 (S6) and Sugar 7 (S7) 63 The Second A.I.F. is Established 9 The Battle Plan 64 The War in Europe Intensifies 10 Time Zero 69 Ken McKay Joins Up 11 Wounded at the Wire 70 The Battle of Britain 12 Trapped in No Mans Land 71 Greece 13 A Disaster for D Company 72 Northern Africa 14 Officially Missing in Action 73 The Suez Canal 15 Tobruk, August 3rd 1941 74 Operation Compass 16 A Devastating Telegram 75 The Convoys 17 The Worst is Realised 76 Convoy US8 18 Shock, Sadness and Loss 77 A Brief Reprieve 19 A Kindness Never Forgotten 78 The Last Family Photos 20 The Aftermath 79 The Golden Pencil 21 Australians Evacuated from Tobruk 80 The First Letter 22 Meanwhile back in Australia 81 Convoy US10 22 The Final Payslip 82 Cruising On A Luxury French Liner 23 The Soldier - A Poem 83 A Hot, Monotonous Journey 24 Precious Possessions 84 The Ile de France 26 Life Goes On 85 A Letter from Colombo 28 The Next Generation 86 Bound for Egypt 30 A Granddaughter’s Obsession 87 Letters from Palestine 30 Researching the Past 88 News of the 2/28th Battalion 33 Thoughts of Libya 89 Arab Camps and Veiled Women 34 A Trip to Tobruk 90 Mail from Home 36 Sometimes You Just Have to Trust 91 Precious Letters 38 The Sahara 92 The Desert Fox 39 The Second Gulf War Continues 93 The Siege of Tobruk 40 Tobruk 94 The Rats of Tobruk 41 Knightsbridge Cemetery 95 Letters from Egypt 42 Together After 62 Years 96 The Second Letter from Egypt 44 The Fig Tree 98 Tobruk Ferry 46 The Battle Ground 99 Dangerous Days at Sea 48 In the Trenches 100 A Short Ferry Trip to Tobruk 49 End of an Extraordinary Day 102 Re-united with the 2/28th at Tobruk 50 Home to Australia 103 Letters from Tobruk 51 Fifteen Years Later 103 A Letter to Mum 53 Everything and Nothing has Changed 104 The Last Letter 54 A Tribute to My Grandparents 105 Page 5" In the Beginning Ken McKay was born on 30th December 1918 to Ken and Edith McKay (nee Dunwoodie). He was one of five children, the second youngest and the only boy. Surrounded by his sisters, Ruth, Maisy, Verna and Betty, Ken grew up in Salisbury Street, Subiaco, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Ken McKay’s Dad was a metal worker employed in the railway workshops in the suburb of Midland while Ken’s Mum was a homemaker. The happiness of this large, productive family was cut short in 1933 when Ken’s father died suddenly from a heart attack at just 53 years of age. It was a shocking loss and left young Ken with a protective sense of responsibility toward his Mother and four sisters as he became the man of the household at age fifteen. Ken’s Mum, known to all as Mrs Mac was a formidable woman and slowly recovered. To make ends meet and pay the rent on the Salisbury Street house, Mrs Mac used her dressmaking skills to make clothing from home and also took in boarders. Her home was known as one of kindness, productivity and generosity. Ken & Edith McKay With First Child Ruth. Ken McKay as a Baby. Source; Family Album Source; Family Album Ken McKay with his Sisters, friends & family. Sister Betty to his left, Sister Verna to his right, and Nan his wife slightly behind him on the right. Source; Family Album Page 6" Falling in Love Ken McKay fell in love with Kathleen Shirley Wymond (my beautiful Nan) when she was just sixteen years old. Shirley lived with her two sisters, Joy and Merle and her parents, in Stanmore Street, Subiaco, close to Ken’s family home. Shirley’s Dad, Beaumont was an accountant and her Mum, Kathleen was a homemaker. They were a well respected, quiet and hardworking family. The Wymond family. Parents Kathleen Charlotte & Beaumont Stocker Wymond with their daughters. Joy, the oldest is on the left, Merle the youngest at the front, and Kathleen Shirley, my Nan is on the right. Source; Family Album Three beautiful sisters. From left to right; Shirley, Merle and Joy Wymond. Source; Family Album Page 7" A Baby Boy and the Outbreak of War Ken and Shirley courted for a while before Nan fell pregnant in late 1938. They were not married and these were very conservative times. The situation must have been extremely difficult for the young couple as they navigated the disproval of both families and the wider community. Ken Mckay and Shirley Wymond, Young, smiling and in love. Source; Family Album A registry office wedding took place on May 16th 1939 and Shirley went to live with Ken in his Mum’s Salisbury Street home before giving birth to a baby boy, Ken McKay junior (my Dad) on the 26th August 1939. Just a few days later, on 3rd of September 1939 Australia joined Britain, France and New Zealand and declared war on Nazi Germany in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland. While the young McKay couple struggled with the dramas of married life and parenthood in the quiet leafy suburb of Subiaco, the war on the other side of the world intensified. The front page of The Courier Mail on Monday, September 4th 1939. Australian Prime Minister Mr Menzies supports Britain’s declaration of war on Germany. Source; Trove Page 8" The Munich Agreement Hitler’s aggression had been building for several years. In March 1938 Germany annexed Austria and promised that would be the end of the country’s expansionist policy, but it was not to be. Just six months later, in September 1938, Germany demanded the Sudetenland, a strategic portion of Czechoslovakia adjoining Germany and Austria which was mostly occupied by German speaking people. Cartoon published in the Providence Journal, Providence Rhode Island, Friday October 7th 1938. Artist; Henderson, Source; Amazon. A conference was held in Munich, and in an act of appeasement that ultimately failed, the Munich Agreement sanctioning German annexation of the Sudetenland was signed by Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy.