Walking in the footsteps of Lieut. Reginald Harrington DCM (Blog post 1)

 

 

REGINALD HARRINGTON’S Journey of Remembrance 2022: Blog post 1

With our 2022 Connecting Spirits Community Tour departing in two month's time, our itinerary planning is nearly complete. As part of this year’s much awaited tour, the group will follow in the footsteps of one South Australian soldier Lieutenant Reginald Harrington D.C.M from his and brother Keith’s departure from Australia through to his final days in the UK. The first post sets the scene with a letter Reginald sent to his daughter Gwen who was only two years of age at the time. In this evocative document, the South Australian officer explains to little Gwen, his reasons for leaving her and enlisting to fight in the Great War. His daughter kept the letter for all her life and when she was 90 years of age, Gwen explained to me the significance of this powerful text. The letter was sent from the training camps at Mena in Egypt on 24^th February 1915 two months prior to his participation in the infamous Gallipoli campaign.

(Take note: Reg’s punctuation, sentence structure, capitalisation and grammar has been transcribed as HE wrote it)

 

My Darling little daughter Gwen

It seems strange to me writing a letter to you, when I know that it will be many years before your dear eyes will be able to translate my message. Two years ago today your Dad was the happiest & proudest fellow in all the world. Your dear Mother will have told you why, and today because I am so far away from you both I made my mind to write you a letter, for your Mother to give you when you are a big wise girl to read, and so that you might know, as you will find out for yourself, only too well later on in life, how your welfare and your image fills my mind & heart.

In a few days’ time, with the rest of the Australian Forces, we leave to go to the front and with the knowledge of what we have to face, in front of me. I know that whereas I may be lucky enough to go thorough it all, and return home to you, to see & watch over your life, at the same time, less than five minutes in the firing line, may be the end of my career. In this case my baby, when you read this letter, you will be about 18 years old (the age your Mother was when I first met & fell in love with her).

Your  Mother will, in the event of my not returning, have the care of your little life, your education, character, and learning and will have told you all about your Dad, and about this Great War and that, apart from Patriotic feelings and a citizen’s first duty, my further reason and purpose, for leaving a comfortable home, loving wife, small baby daughter & a good position, as well as all the other nice things of a peaceful life, for the rough and ready living of a soldier, was so that my wife, Your Mother, and you our little self may be able to live out your lives in peace, and to help stop forever, any chance of our enemy, fearful and cruel ever invading & violating the shore of our country.

Well my daughter the following are the things I want you to think about and do, only some of them, for there will be hundreds of little things your Mother will teach you, as only Mothers can. Always love your Mother & do as she teaches & tells you, never do the slightest thing away from her that you would not do in her sight. Tell your Mother all your little secrets, keep nothing from her, no matter what it is, and remember, Your Mother Gwen, is & always will be your best & wisest friend, so no matter what is wrong always go to her, for if your Mother won’t help you, then my daughter no one in this world will, so remember my wishes. Make your dear Mother your best friend & tell her everything. Do this dear girl and as I found out the truth of it all, in my later life you will find out for yourself. For the rest, everything lies in yours, and in your sweet Mother’s hands. God bless you both. Anyhow, I am going to get back alright, and so will be able to watch you grow up & oh! I hope till I am an old man, together with your Mother, but this is in case my luck is out. May God always protect & guide your dearest lives, is the burden of the prayers of your loving Dad.

 

As we tour the former Western Front this year, we will keep Reginald’s story front and centre of our journey. It is to be hoped that we will be able to continue the narrative in 2024 if we are able to tour to Turkey and re-join the narrative at Keith Harrington’s grave the resting place of Reg’s brother.  By following Julie Reece Tours Facebook page and ticking LIKE, you will keep in the loop of our planning.

 

Wife and daughter of Reginald Harrington : Edith with baby Gwen at the age when her father left for war

(Photo credit: taken from 'Journey of Remembrance, REECE, J 2002, pg 197) 

Lieutenant Reginald Harrington DCM 

(Photo credit: taken from 'Journey of Remembrance, REECE, J 2002, pg 197) 

 

 

Looking out over the Aegean from the Gallipoli peninsula

(Photo credit : Julie Reece 2002 visit to Turkey)

Canakkale, Turkey

(Photo credit : Julie Reece 2002 visit to Turkey)

 

 

Walking in the footsteps of Lieut. Reginald Harrington DCM (Introduction)

 

REGINALD HARRINGTON D.C.M.: His journey of Remembrance 2022

In 2000 in the lead up to the first commemorative tour I organised, ‘Remembrance 2001’, one of the students who joined the project uncovered a superb collection of letters written by Lieutenant Reginald Harrington DCM. Reg along with his brother Keith, were students at the Hahndorf College prior to the war. Ben Huxtable was Year 11 in 2001 when the Remembrance 2001 group departed for Europe, and he researched and eventually commemorated 33 Hahndorf veterans who were buried overseas. In his attempts to locate and contact the families of these WW1 soldiers, Ben had several names he could not trace. He placed an advertisement in the ‘Sunday Mail’ listing the remaining names he was researching seeking help from the public to make contact. And this is where Reginald Harrington’s story came to light.

 A lady in her late 80’s contacted Ben and identified herself as Reg’s only daughter, Gwen. A lively conversation ensued when eventually Gwen told Ben that she had all her father’s letters right from the time of his enlistment (18 August 1914) through to the final letter written by his nurse in England writing to Reg’s wife Edith following the death of her beloved husband. (6 October 1918) Much to the consternation of Gwen’s own family, she handed over all the precious letters into the hands of this 16-year-old boy she had only just met! Ben and his mother Jayne then carefully and lovingly transcribed these letters and after the tour we published a book ‘Journey of Remembrance: an account of Mount Barker High School’s Remembrance 2001 project’ where most of the letters were included in full. (We made the decision to not include two of the letters due to the very personal nature of the correspondence out of respect for Edith his widow.)

So why now 20 years later is Reg’s story coming to light once more? The 2022 Connecting Spirits Community Tour group decided to focus on Harrington’s story and follow his journey each day we are touring. In the lead up to our departure on September 23, I will write a blog post featuring Reg’s letters as they pertain to that date. It may be that we are in the same location or on the same date he was writing. The relevant letter or extract will be shared at the start of each day and included in regular blog posts. In that sense we really will be following in the footsteps of this man from rural south Australia.

To conclude our commemorative journey, we will read the final letters at his grave in Netley Cemetery in Hampshire in the UK in memory of this remarkable man. The Royal Victoria Military hospital where he was cared for in his final days, closed in 1978 when a park was established by local authorities that surrounds the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. The original chapel remains today and houses a museum sharing the stories of the hospital, medical treatments and those who worked and were treated there. It is our intent to visit the old chapel when we complete our commemoration to Reg.

I would like to acknowledge Allison Russell for allowing me to use her original idea in sharing Reg’s story in this manner. Allison produced a daily blog for the 2012 RSL/Connecting Spirits tour using this format for a different soldier William Murray FOWLER and has generously supported its use for Reginald Harrington. Thank you, Allison.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS

(Quoted from Chapter 8, ‘Journey of Remembrance’, page 196)

‘Over 25 of Reg’s letters are in existence and his daughter, Gwen Woodforde, has kindly given permission for these to be published. Because of their length and lack of punctuation some editing has been done, but the essence of his letters has been kept intact. His story is an extraordinary one. He enlisted early in the war with his brother Keith. They were both in Cairo during the riots in the red district of the Wazzir, and Reg gives a detailed account of this little-known event. He witnesses the mortal wounding of his beloved brother Keith and despite much sickness and lengthy periods of hospitalisation, he endures the horrors of the Western Front in the Somme region and later in 1917 -1918 in the hell of the Ypres Salient. Reginald Harrington was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and was invested at Buckingham Palace. Throughout his four years away from home and family, his letters convey his enduring love for his young wife and little baby Gwen. These documents are moving, engaging and a powerful record of one man’s experiences during World War One. His words encapsulate the tragedy that is the Great War.’  (Julie Reece, 2002)

Since the book and the letters were published 20 years ago, Gwen has passed away, but the legacy her father’s story has created, continues. Each week in June- September 23, extracts from Lieutenant Reginald Harrington letters to his wife Edith will be published on this blog.