Tuesday 25 April 2017

The Fortunes of War

Once upon a time there were two boys, both from the country and both of whom commenced as boarders at Ivanhoe Grammar School in 1935. Charles Henry James Minto Lumsden was from the Buckland Valley and Charles Turley Holloway (known as Peter) hailed from Bairnsdale. They immediately became great mates and for the next two years they were inseparable.

The outbreak of World War 2 saw Charles serve in the Middle East and then undertake two tours in New Guinea. He spent some time in Australia during 1944 but in April 1945 he sailed back to New Guinea. Peter served in New Guinea as a member of the 39th Battalion and was discharged from the Army in 1944 due to ill health and began his training to become an Anglican priest.

On a fine winters day in August 1945 Charles’ mother Meg, was sitting by the dining room window of the family home, sewing the dress that she intended to wear at the party that was planned for Charles’ return. It was then that the news came through that Charles had been killed in action on the 5th of August at Wewak, ten days before War’s end.

On Friday 22 April, 2011, The Reverend C T (Peter) Holloway, Class of ’39 and aged 90, spoke at our TRSC ANZAC Service. Not so much about his experiences during the war, but more about the boys he knew at School and those whose names were called as having made the supreme sacrifice. Charles Henry James Minto Lumsden was one of them.

Fidelis Usque ad Mortem

Geoff Brown
,, Executive Officer OIGA

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