Ask anyone who has ever served their country in a time of war, and they will tell you it has lasting effects.
It’s a notion with which Albert Henry Speed is very familiar.
Although Burnside retiree Albert Henry never fought in a war, his father, Albert George, and grandfather, Albert Herbert, both served together in World War I.
Albert George was just 17 when he enlisted with the Australian army on July 14, 1915.
He was placed in the 56th battalion and sent to France, were he worked as a signaller in the trenches at Reincourt.
In 1917, he received a military medal for his “splendid devotion to duty and an utter disregard of danger” when he sent out several important telephone messages during an attack on his battalion.
Only days after his son’s citation, Albert Herbert also enlisted and was soon serving alongside his son.
Mr Speed said it was uncommon for a father and son to fight together even though in the event that a father and son were both enlisted “the rules were that if a father chose to, he could ‘claim’ his son … could transfer him into the same battalion so they could serve together.”
In a cruel twist of fate, Private Albert Herbert was wounded at San Quentin, while his son was on leave in London, and died soon after.
Albert George, who became a corporal, went on to fight in World War II, serving in the North African campaign with the 9th Australian division. He was one of the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ who defended the Libyan port of Tobruk during the famous siege.
Mr Speed said his dad, who passed away from pneumonia and heart complications in 1952 aged 54, never spoke about the war or fighting alongside his father.
“We knew that our grandfather had died, but we never knew [the details],” Mr Speed said.
“[Dad] never talked about the war.”
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