‘Father never spoke much about the war.’

Joe Wood enlisted in 1915 because he saw it as a chance to return to England to see his mother.

Rather, Joe found himself on the Western Front in 1916. He survived Fromelles, but near Ypres in 1917 he was severely wounded in the thigh. Joe pretended he was dead until he was rescued.

Attempts to save his leg failed, and it had to be amputated.

Returning to Australia in 1919, Joe did not receive a pension because authorities deemed he could still earn a living. He had to work in a small-arms factory in Lithgow to ‘make ends meet’.

Joe’s daughter, Nola, said her father possessed a wicked sense of humour, but never spoke about the war. ‘And he never complained even though often he was clearly in a lot of pain.’

Joe was issued a wooden leg but didn’t like to wear it - instead he used it was an umbrella stand. Or when first living in a boarding house, he would leave it in his unmade bed to scare the housekeeper.

Joe bitterly recalled being refused entry to the Returned Service League because he wasn’t a paid-up member. He maintained that he had already paid a high enough price.

Joe died in 1980.

His grandson, Graham reflected that Joe had a ‘pretty good life - of course he drank a lot - they all did - but they had a reason to.’

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‘Bennett makes a brilliant foray into fiction … a must read’.

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‘This is an admirable book, superbly researched and insightfully written’.

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Story sourced from: The Lost Diggers by Ross Coulthart

Photograph credit: Kerry Stokes

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