Doctor Rae Howard Riley becomes emotional when she recalls her father’s relentless dedication to the wives and children of his fellow soldiers killed in World War I.
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“My father never spoke much about the war, but he always stood up for those left behind,” she said.
An army chaplain, Guilford John Granger Howard grew up on a farm in Crookwell before enlisting on April 19, 1915.
He was part of the 1st Battalion, the first infantry unit recruited for the AIF in New South Wales during the First World War, but arrived in Gallipoli after the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915.
After rising through the ranks, Sergeant Howard was injured in the Battle of Lone Pine and, following his recovery, went on to teach soldiers at Pozieres training camp in the Somme Valley in France, before undergoing officer training at Oxford.
He returned to his Battalion after 119 of his fellow soldiers had mutinied after being ordered back to the front halfway through a relief by another battalion, leaving only ten officers and 84 men to fight.
Dr Howard Riley said her father spoke about how he found the men “broken and demoralised”.
“By the end of WWI, his battalion was not taking prisoners, only killing,” she said, “they didn’t trust anyone.”
Upon his return to Australia, Sergeant Howard took up the fight for “disgraced” returned soldiers from his battalion and also for the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“He was appalled that many widows and orphaned children weren’t taken care of,” she said.
“I’m terribly proud of my father’s dedication to helping and supporting others.”
Dr Howard Riley lost a lot of her father’s war memorabilia when her Bawley Point home was burnt to the ground during an arson attack in 1989.
She has since managed to track down information and old photos that will be on display as part of the Anzac Centenary exhibition at the Kioloa Fire Station on Anzac Day.
After practicing for months, Dr Howard Riley will sing both the Australian and New Zealand national anthems during the Anzac service at the Kioloa Community Centre and she will also unveil a memorial stone with fellow resident Florence Curtis.
Mrs Curtis’s father John Henry Patton of Goulburn joined the army in 1915 and left for France in May 1916.
In October 1918, he injured his right eye while working as a farrier with the 3rd Division 8th Field Artillery Brigade and was taken to Birmingham War Hospital.
He returned home on a hospital ship and discharged in April 1919 and married Daisy Thomas a few months later.
Mrs Curtis said she was looking forward to the inaugural Kioloa Anzac Day service that will get underway at 11am at the Kioloa Community Centre, with a barbecue to follow.
The fire station doors will open at 12 with a collection of local war memorabilia on display, including items on loan from the Tabourie Museum.
The community activities will continue into the evening, with a Diggers Dinner Dance to be held at the Kioloa Community Centre from 6pm, with stew, mash and greens, followed by apple pie on the menu.
Anzac 100 committee member Helen Nelson said representatives of more than 25 community groups, as well as school children and local Aboriginal representatives, would lay wreaths during the morning ceremony.
She said the service and the day’s activities were open to residents and visitors in the Bawley Point, Kioloa and Termeil area.
“We hope people will come along and make it a real family day,” she added.
