This is the fourth of a new series of articles about men and women connected to my family who served in – and survived – the First and Second World Wars.
Bernard ‘Bernie’ Male (1917-1970)
Bernie – who was just 10 years old when he sailed to Australia under a controversial child migration scheme – served as a private in the 2/7th Australian Field Ambulance (AAF) in the Second World War.
He emigrated to Fremantle, Australia in 1928. He was one of 28 children aged between eight and 12 who sailed – unaccompanied by a parent – from London to Australia on February 9 that year in the P&O steamship SS Benalla.
Bernie and the other children travelled across the world with the help of the London-based Child Emigration Society, who between 1911 and 1960 sent nearly 3,000 youngsters to its farm schools in Australia.
He was 23 and an engineer when he enlisted in the Australian Army in Claremont, Western Australia on December 20, 1940.
The 2/7th AAF, formed in June 1940 in Northam, Western Australia, sailed to the Middle East later that year.
They set up their first base in Palestine and were involved in the advance into eastern Libya as troops captured Bardia from Italian forces.
The 2/7th established a small hospital in Barce, Libya in 1942 before joining forces sent to defend Greece.
In Crete, one of their companies was forced to surrender to advancing German troops. Those who escaped made their way to evacuation beaches at Sfakia.
The 2/7th reassembled at Khassa in Palestine in June 1942 before returning to Australia. They were based on the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory until July 1943.
After a move to Queensland, they were transferred to New Guinea in November 1944, joining units fighting Japanese forces in Aitape, Babiang, Ulau, Suain and Cape Wom.
Bernie was discharged on February 14, 1945.
He died on March 26, 1970 in South Australia, aged 52 and was buried at the Centennial Park Cemetery in Pasadena, South Australia.
Family connection
Bernie married Edith Mary Matthews (1917-1994) on July 3, 1943. Edith was the daughter of Olive Crook (1888-1956) and Gilbert Thomas Matthews (1886-1966). Olive was the daughter of William Crook (1847-1919) and Ellen Emma Woodley (1853-1934). William was the son of Richard Crook (1810-1883) and Charity Roberts (1818-1883). Charity was the daughter of William Roberts (1779-1848) and Sarah Treble (1784-1861). William was the son of William Roberts (1738-), my great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
NOTE
More than 130,000 children were shipped to Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, Zimbabwe and other countries between the 17th and 20th Centuries under a migration scheme established to help alleviate labour shortages in former British Colonies.
Paul Roberts
Picture below
Bernie when he enlisted. Pictures from his service records, preserved on National Archives of Australia.
