Shirley to pay Anzac tribute at home
Katie Miller
24Apr08
YOU will not see Shirley Jarvis-McCann in an Anzac Day march tomorrow.
The Tweed Heads local prefers to observe the occasion the same way as did her late father, a decorated World War I Digger, and solemnly remember in the quiet of her home.
Herbert Claude Alexander Jarvis, better known as Bert, was awarded a British (Imperial) Military Medal for bravery after an incident in France in 1917 during which he was wounded.
The New South Welshman was also awarded a British War Medal and Victory Medal during his service with the Australian Imperial Forces from 1915 to 1919.
Mrs Jarvis-McCann, 77, said her mother used to sneak out her father's medals for her to look at when she was young but she never knew one was for bravery until after he died in 1977.
"He never talked about it and we never did anything on Anzac Day," she said. "I find Anzac Day very sad, not only because of my dad but because of what these men did in those trenches and in the mud.
"I can't march because I would just get so upset, so I stay home and remember."
Mrs Jarvis-McCann, the youngest of four daughters, said her father was a marvellous, brave man and a wonderful dad. The oldest, daughter 88-year-old Pattie Brennan, lives at Robina, another daughter has died and the fourth lives in the Blue Mountains.
Mr Jarvis enlisted in October 1915 and was eventually transferred to the 4th Divisional Ammunition Column, with which he was sent to France in 1916.
On May 28, 1917, he was a driver of a gun section wagon team in convoy on a road at Boulogne in northern France when the area came under heavy shell fire.
An explosion killed the wheel driver and badly wounded Mr Jarvis but he managed to drive his team to safety.
Mr Jarvis spent several weeks in the British Base Hospital at Wimereux before he was able to return to active duties on July 24.
He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery for his 'pluck and courage' in September 1917, which was sent to his mother in NSW along with a handwritten letter of thanks from King George V.
After four years of war service and 214 days abroad, he was discharged from the army as a corporal in October, 1919.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/04/24/10365_gold-coast-news.html
