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James Francis's avatar

I lost count of the number of times he was Mentioned in Dispatches Cam.

I am now curious about his reasons for calling it a day. Did the gas show him a preview of his mortality, I wonder?

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Cam Simpson's avatar

Oh yes James, he seems to have been belt fed MIDs. Indeed, his leaving the AIF is difficult to positively conclude. The gassing piece is interesting, as Banjo P is the source, while his temporary AIF file says he was admitted to hospital with bronchitis, not through the effects of gas. It's possible that he was just completely exhausted as the war dairy stated that he needed a complete overhaul.

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Cam Simpson's avatar

My motivation to write this piece came about when I read the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry that missed great junks of his service and made no attempt to even get the South African unit designations right.

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James Francis's avatar

Overhaul or ‘re-think war and such’

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