No Better Death

Home > Other > No Better Death > Page 36
No Better Death Page 36

by John Crawford


  Edmond Malone and his bride Mary ‘Peter’ Brocklehurst on their wedding day, 4 July 1917, nine months before Edmond’s death in France.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in Puke Ariki)

  ‘Peter’ Malone with her daughter Elinor ‘Petie’ Malone, who never knew her father, Edmond.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in Puke Ariki)

  Edmond Malone, William George Malone’s oldest son, was wounded in the leg on 20 July 1915. After being evacuated from Gallipoli, Edmond was sent to England for further treatment and then returned to Egypt and his unit, the Wellington Mounted Rifles, in January 1916. After William Malone’s death, Brigadier-General Johnston apparently recommended that both Edmond and Terry receive commissions in their father’s old unit. The severity of the wounds Terry received at Gallipoli ended his military service, but in March 1916 Edmond was commissioned as a second lieutenant and posted to the 1st Battalion of the Wellington Regiment. Between April and early June 1916 Edmond served with his battalion in France. He was then either taken ill or possibly wounded, and invalided back to England, where he remained until October 1916.44 At this time Edmond was described by his commanding officer as a ‘willing officer but without much experience’.45 Sometime during his period in hospital in England, Edmond met and fell in love with a nurse, Mary ‘Peter’ Brocklehurst. They were married at Watford on 4 July 1917. In October 1917, by which time Edmond had been promoted to lieutenant, he suffered a severe gunshot wound to his right shoulder and was again sent to England for medical treatment. In November, Edmond was awarded the Military Cross for ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’ while leading his platoon in an attack through ‘heavy shell and machinegun fire. He set a splendid example of courage and energy to his men.’46

  Edmond returned to his unit in France in February 1918. Late in the following month, during heavy fighting to halt the German Spring offensive, he suffered a grave wound to his left leg. A few days later, on 6 April 1918, Edmond Malone succumbed to this wound.47 He was a popular and dedicated officer whose death was keenly felt by his comrades.48 At the time of her husband’s death, Mary ‘Peter’ Malone was pregnant with their daughter Elinor, who was always known as ‘Petie’.

  In 1945 after the end of the Second World War in Europe, one of Terry Malone’s sons, Desmond Malone, who had been serving in the New Zealand forces in Italy, went to the United Kingdom on leave and decided to visit his aunt. Mary ‘Peter’ Malone had never remarried, and at her house she showed Desmond Malone his uncle’s lemon squeezer hat and Military Cross, which were beside her bed, a position that they had occupied since 1918.49

  Edmond Malone’s lemon squeezer hat is now in the collection of Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth. It was donated to the museum in 2009 by Laurence and Ray Roebuck. They had been given it by Petie Malone’s granddaughter, Mary Deighton. Laurence and Ray Roebuck are the sons of Robert Bryan (known as Bryan) Roebuck who was born in July 1912 and was, it appears, the illegitimate child of Edmond Malone and 19-yearold Gladys Roebuck. After his birth, Bryan Roebuck was adopted by his grandparents and bought up as their son. His real parentage remained a secret within the family for many years. Gladys Roebuck and Edmond Malone were, the family understand, briefly engaged, but the match was opposed by the Malone family because the Roebucks were Methodists.50 This engagement may be the one William Malone refers to as having been broken off in his letter to Ida Malone of 23 July 1915. Bryan Roebuck was born in Okato on the coast south-west of New Plymouth where his mother, her family and Edmond Malone were living. Okato is a small settlement and it seems unlikely that Edmond Malone could have been ignorant of the fact that he had fathered a son. There is no evidence that William and Ida Malone knew of the existence of their grandson.51 In 1999, the Okato Returned Services Association decided to mark Edmond Malone’s death with a memorial plaque on the Okato War Memorial. The plaque was unveiled at a ceremony attended by members of the Malone family on 11 November 1999.52

  A page from the Christmas 1915 issue of the St Patrick’s College magazine, Blue and White.

  St Patrick’s College, Kilbirnien

  Puke Ariki also has in its collection Edmond Malone’s military compass. As with the lemon squeezer hat, there is an interesting story behind the museum’s acquisition of this item. The compass was in a box of militaria purchased at an auction in 2009 by English art dealers David and Judith Cohen. They later noticed that it had ‘EL Malone 1st WIB NZ Division’ faintly inscribed on its leather case. The Cohens showed the compass to their friend Dr Christopher Pugsley, an eminent New Zealand military historian. Dr Pugsley’s face apparently went white when he read the inscription on the compass. Once he explained the significance of the compass to the Cohens, they gave it to him. He at first intended passing the compass to Dr Judy Malone in Wellington. Dr Malone, however, felt strongly that the compass should go to Puke Ariki. Dr Pugsley agreed to this and donated it to the museum in 2010.53

  Brian Malone had been working for his father as a clerk when he enlisted in the force dispatched in August 1914 to seize German Samoa. He returned from Samoa in November 1914 and was discharged from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.54 Not long after his father’s death, Brian Malone noted that all four of William Malone’s older sons were serving or were about to serve, in the NZEF, and that Norah was serving as a Red Cross nurse. He remarked that ‘if there were more of us they’d be in it too’.55 After returning from Samoa and while waiting to serve again in the NZEF, Brian worked as a journalist in Hamilton and later in Hawke’s Bay. In January 1917, he was found to be unfit for service in the NZEF because of defective eyesight. Six months later, however, he passed a medical board and was re-enlisted in the NZEF. On this occasion he served in the New Zealand Medical Corps in New Zealand and on hospital ships returning wounded and sick NZEF personnel to New Zealand. He was discharged from the NZEF in October 1918 because of his defective vision.56 Brian later became a lawyer in Te Awamutu. He died in Tauranga on 21 December 1967. One of his sons, the late Edmond ‘Ted’ Malone took a great interest in his grandfather’s life. Ted Malone’s widow, Dr Judy Malone, who like her late husband is an historian, has also undertaken extensive research into the Malone family.57

  Brian Malone in his medical corps uniform.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  Terry Malone was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt after suffering multiple wounds to his right leg and arm on 1 June 1915. He spent a month in hospital there before being sent to England for further treatment. In January 1916 Terry Malone returned to New Zealand and was discharged from the NZEF in April 1916 as being permanently unfit for further military service. Terry Malone’s wounds left him partially disabled. He received a war pension and he suffered from the long-term effects of his wounds for the rest of his life. He greatly felt the loss of his brother Edmond and later Maurice. Terry Malone died in Wellington on 15 February 1963.58

  Maurice Malone (centre, marked with a cross) with other members of the machine gun corps. They are probably the men with whom he undertook his machine gun training course. The officer to the right of Maurice Malone was probably one of the course instructors.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  Malone’s youngest son from his first marriage, Maurice Patrick ‘Mot’ Malone, enlisted in the NZEF in April 1915. A few days after his father’s death, Maurice sailed for Egypt as a reinforcement for the Wellington Mounted Rifles. He served with this unit in Egypt, before transferring, in July 1916, to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade’s Machine Gun Squadron. On 14 November 1917, Maurice, who was by this time a sergeant, showed great initiative and courage during the New Zealand brigade’s brilliant action at Ayun Kara, near Jaffa. After his commanding officer was wounded, Maurice took charge of his section of machine guns and showed inspiring leadership, particularly when his position was nearly overrun by a Turkish counter-attack. During this action, Maurice shot several of the leading Turks with his revolv
er and his bold action inspired his men. For his bravery and outstanding leadership at Ayun Kara, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Late in November, Maurice was wounded in the foot, and after months of medical treatment was invalided back to New Zealand in August 1918. After further medical treatment, he was discharged from the NZEF on 8 January 1919, but continued to suffer from the effects of his wound.59 Following his discharge, Maurice purchased, after being successful in a ballot, a small farm in the Ardkeen settlement for returned soldiers, near Wairoa. He died in Hastings on 16 January 1926 from an accidental overdose of an ointment containing morphia and belladonna, which he was taking to relieve the pain caused by piles. He left a widow and three-year-old daughter.60

  Denis George Withers Malone worked for the National Bank of New Zealand in London and later joined the prison service. He was the assistant commissioner of prisons in Kenya during the Mau Mau insurgency, and later the Director of Prisons in Cyprus at the time of the EOKA terrorist campaign against British rule. Between 1960 and 1966 Denis Malone was a reforming governor of Dartmoor Prison. He then retired to New Zealand, living in Kerikeri until his death in 1983.61

  Malone’s youngest son, William Bernard Malone, who was always known in the family as Barney, also remained in the United Kingdom after his father’s death. In 1930 he joined the British prison service and began to work in Borstals. Barney Malone quickly demonstrated an impressive mix of determination, intelligence, leadership and innovative thinking. During his time as second-in-command of the North Sea Camp near Boston he instigated a number of educational and other initiatives designed to improve the outlook for the youths sent to the institution. He more closely resembled his father than any of William Malone’s other sons, and was, as a man who knew him wrote, ‘marked out for death or glory’. Barney Malone had an ‘ardent admiration for his father’ and ‘read and re-read’ William Malone’s war diaries. After war broke out in 1939 he was determined to serve and successfully petitioned for release from the prison service.62 He was commissioned in the Scots Guards. In 1941 Barney was one of a group of Guards officers specially selected to watch over Rudolf Hess, at Camp Z, the secret prison, established to hold the Nazi leader. Captain Barney Malone was killed in action at Cassino in Italy on 7 December 1943.63

  Second Lieutenant Barney Malone, Scots Guards.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  Rory Patrick Malone, Terry Malone’s great-grandson, continued the family tradition of military service when he enlisted in the New Zealand Territorial Force in 2002. Three years later he transferred to the Regular Force. He was an Wellington (now in ATL) exceptional soldier, heading his initial training course and being the top graduate on his infantry training course. Later after joining 2/1 Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment as a rifleman he won the Top Soldier Competition. Rory Malone was intensely proud of his family’s record of military service, although he rarely spoke about it. He was a popular, determined soldier who thoroughly enjoyed life in the Army. In 2006 and 2007 Rory Malone was deployed to East Timor. In 2012 he was posted to Afghanistan where as a Lance Corporal he served with Kiwi Company, an element of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan Province. During the morning of 4 August 2012, Afghan National Directorate of Security personnel who had gone to the village of Dahane Baghak to detain suspected insurgents came under attack and suffered a number of casualties. Elements of Kiwi Company were dispatched to the scene to assist the Afghan forces. Early in the afternoon the Afghan and New Zealand forces came under fierce attack. Rory Malone was killed after bravely dragging his seriously wounded commanding officer behind cover.64

  Lance Corporal Rory Malone

  NZDF

  Malone’s Reputation and Legacy

  A great deal has been, and continues to be, written about the Gallipoli campaign. The campaign continues to attract particular attention in Australia and to a slightly lesser extent in New Zealand. Malone has perhaps attracted more attention than any other battalion or regimental commander at Gallipoli. There are, for example, references to Malone on 45 pages of Bloody Gallipoli: The New Zealanders’ Story by Richard Stowers, whereas Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Bauchop, the outstanding commander of the Otago Mounted Rifles, who was also killed in the August offensive, is mentioned on only five pages.65 This can be attributed to a number of factors: firstly, Malone’s strong personality and charismatic and idiosyncratic leadership of his battalion; secondly, the survival of his detailed, revealing diary and extensive collection of letters; and thirdly, to Malone and his battalion’s involvement in three crucial actions during the campaign. These were securing Walker’s Ridge and Russell’s Top (the highest point on the ridge) during the opening days of a campaign, the transformation of Quinn’s Post into a secure stronghold, and finally, and most importantly, the capture of Chunuk Bair in August 1915.

  The desperate fighting by the Anzacs to seize and hold Walker’s Ridge and Russell’s Top between 25 and 28 April was absolutely vital to ensuring the security of the foothold gained by the Allied forces at Anzac Cove, and its importance was recognised at the time.66 Lieutenant-Colonel Braund has been widely praised for organising and leading the defence of this vital area. The contribution made to the successful action by the Wellington Infantry Battalion and Malone is noted in the first volume of Bean’s Australian official history,67 and in the first volume of the British official history by C.F. Aspinall-Oglander.68 Later, in 1936, after he had read Malone’s account of the action, Aspinall-Oglander told Barney Malone that in his praise of Braund ‘he had backed the wrong horse’.69 Malone’s strong criticisms of Braund and his men have generally been seen as being unduly harsh, although understandable given the circumstances.70 In his recent well-researched and insightful account of the initial operations at Gallipoli, Chris Roberts has gone further and suggested that Malone’s criticisms were ‘unjustified, churlish and based on ignorance of the situation; the men who fought with Braund paid tribute to his courage and leadership.’71 That Malone spoke to Braund and went up Walker’s Ridge during the fighting points to him having a good knowledge of the situation there. It is also significant that Jesse Wallingford, who was in the thick of the action on Walker’s Ridge is, if anything, more critical of Braund. Malone’s allegation that Braund’s tactics were not driven by the situation on the ground, but by a breakdown in discipline amongst his men due to inadequate training and leadership, is of particular interest.72 There is evidence that discipline amongst Braund’s men did falter, which should come as no surprise given that they were raw troops engaged in combat for the first time under the most trying of circumstances. It must, however, be admitted that Malone landed at Gallipoli prepared to think the worst of the Australians and his experiences on the peninsula did not substantially alter this negative opinion of them.73

  Malone was quite properly very proud of the magnificent discipline and spirit shown by his battalion in the Second Battle of Krithia. He quickly realised, however, that the Wellington Battalion and the rest of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade had suffered terribly for no good reason in a botched attack that had no prospect of success.74

  Malone was an outstanding commander whose superior organisational abilities and practical, determined approach to problems suited him particularly well for the task of completely reorganising the defences and tactics employed at Quinn’s Post.75 Waite’s The New Zealanders at Gallipoli and Bean’s encyclopaedic Australian official history both describe Malone’s achievements, but provide little detail.76 Peter Stanley’s book, Quinn’s Post: Anzac, Gallipoli details the work Malone and the New Zealanders and Australians who served under him at this vital point, and gives their efforts the prominence they deserve.77

  For many years the controversy about the siting of the trenches on Chunuk Bair and to a lesser extent Malone’s role in the decision to consolidate on the Apex rather than press on with an attack on 7 August overshadowed the achievements of the Wellington Battalion and its commander
in the breakout from Anzac. These criticisms angered the Malone family and others closely associated with William Malone.78 It was only with the publication of Robert Rhodes James’ first-rate history of the campaign in 1965 that the inaccurate claims about the siting of the trenches on Chunuk Bair, which had been repeated in books by Sir Ian Hamilton and others, were effectively rebutted in a book published outside New Zealand.79 Denis Malone gave Rhodes James access to his father’s diaries, which Rhodes James recognised as being an important source. Major Sir Edward Harston also assisted Rhodes James in his research and was ‘delighted’ with the way in which the book corrected ‘the stupid and inaccurate description which had been repeated at various times about how Chunuk Bair was held and what happened there.’80 In New Zealand, the situation was somewhat different. Waite’s official New Zealand history, which was published in 1919, contains a detailed defence of the siting of the trenches on Chunuk Bair, which concludes: ‘The fact remains that the trenches on Chunuk Bair were the only possible ones for such a situation ... what was done on Chunuk Bair could not have been done any better by anybody else; and there, for the present, the matter must stand.’81 The Wellington Regiment official history that appeared nine years later contains an essentially accurate account of the dispositions and actions of the battalion at Chunuk Bair.82

 

‹ Prev