My grandparents’ World War I love story
Karen Boyd shares the special love story of her grandparents, who met and married in the midst of World War I.
At the Benalla Anzac Day memorial, I stand in front of the statue of the soldier struggling to get up. It is a poignant reminder of the First World War. I have an endowed gratitude and remembrance for all those that were lost, and fought for their countries, in these wars.
Personally, I am for peace and goodwill but I do have a story of this war. It’s not about death or destruction, it’s a love story.
My young pop and his brother needed to get away from a dysfunctional family and an alcoholic, abusive father. So like many young men at the time they went to war in Gallipoli. However, my pop’s brother got gassed in the Western Front and my pop ended up with dysentery before he got to shore. He was also suffering from shrapnel leg wounds so was transferred to a Cairo hospital in Egypt. It was there he met my nanna, a young Blue Crescent volunteer, who was looking after the wounded and sick soldiers.
Nanna was originally from Cyprus but her family had moved to Egypt when she was 12. She was working as an assistant in nursing when she tended to pop. I’m not sure if it was love at first sight, but they were to get together, fall in love and marry there in Alexandria. They wed on the 31st October 1918 in the British Consulate; Pop was 27 and Nanna 22 years old. Here is their wedding photo; Nanna’s wedding dress would have been handmade by her mother and sisters.
After the wedding, pop returned home to Heywood, Victoria. Nanna stayed in Alexandria until Pop could set up a home and pay her way to Australia. She then travelled by boat from Egypt to Australia on her own. It would have been a lonely and tiring trip for her all alone. She would have been so afraid to travel so far to a place she knew nothing about, leaving her family and everything she knew to come to Australia! But when she arrived, Pop and Nanna started their family, my mother being the eldest. The rest is history!
I didn’t know much about their story until a fair time after they died. However, when we began looking into our family history in the 90s, we discovered this beautiful love story. My pop and nanna’s story makes me feel very connected to World War I. If it wasn't for Anzac Day and the war, they wouldn’t have met up and fell in love, and I wouldn’t be here today!
If you have a story to share please get in touch at melody@oversixty.com.au
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