Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Oscar was Johannes Edward and Maria Louise Aesche’s only son, born on the 5th January, 1917 at Ambleside. That year the town of Hahndorf was one of several towns that experienced a name change because of anti-Germanic sentiment generated after WWI. (The town reverted to Hahndorf in ’35 when South Australia celebrated its centenary.)
As did many Lutherans, Oscar attended Concordia College at Highgate as a boarder at the age of fourteen and was one of 84 students at the time. His family soon moved Monarto South, where Oscar then worked as a farm labourer.
Aged 22, Oscar and Kathleen Maud Meekins announced their engagement in November ’39. Unfortunately, just seven months later, Oscar was apprehended for being ‘under the influence of liquor as to be incapable of exercising effective control’ while driving his utility truck. He had parked illegally on Glen Osmond Road, before driving, stalling the truck on the tram lines, then again moving off, driving erratically. His wheels were again caught in the Unley road tram lines and the truck stalled again, before Oscar reversed to extricate the truck. It was an expensive breach as he was fined £20, with £2 9/6 costs and lost his essential licence for three months.
Without his licence and the outbreak of WWII 23 years old Oscar then enlisted to serve on the 29th June 1940, being given the number SX6931 and allocated to the 2/48th Battalion. His early days were spent at Wayville before heading to Woodside. He and Kathleen married on the 24th August ’40, enjoying pre-embarkation time before Oscar boarded the Stratheden in November and arrived in the Middle East on the 17th December that year. His experience with driving trucks meant that Oscar was initially graded a Group III Driver Mechanic before returning to his battalion in October ’41.
By March the following year, Oscar was charged with ‘conduct to the prejudice of good order’ and was confined to barracks for three days, behaviour that was repeated two months later with the same punishment. Conditions in the desert also contributed to him soon contracting dysentery before he was able to return to his battalion.
Oscar was injured with a gunshot wound to his left foot and left thumb during the fierce, unrelenting fighting at El Alamein at the end of October ‘42. That battle created a turning point in Egypt. John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ described how ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest’ where ‘an occasional burst from a machine gun disturbed the night of 24th October. Nevertheless, it was a busy time for the tired men. Little or no sleep could be had. A hot meal sent forward after dark was quickly swallowed. There was no time for yarning. Defences had to be improved, more digging and wiring done and patrols sent out.’ On that night alone 9 of the Battalion were killed and 20 wounded in action. Of these 16 were from South Australia and the remainder from Western Australia. The conditions where ‘arrangements were made for mines, wire ammunition, food, water, overhead cover, sandbags, tools, anti-tank guns, and all the rest, and holding the present position while preparing to launch another attack. And while all this was being done, the battalion was subjected to murderous fire from artillery and mortars. It says much for the battle-drill of the battalion and supporting arms that everything worked out smoothly, going off without a hitch.’
Glenn described that event as the climax of the Alamein Battle and the ‘bloodiest fighting in the history of the 2/48th Battalion’ with ‘only forty-one weary troops remaining in the field’. Glenn’s final summing up was ‘Truly it can be said of these men, “They fought themselves and their enemy to a standstill until flesh and blood could stand no more, then they went on fighting.” ‘When next the sun drove away those shadows from the desert, death would have reaped a rich harvest of gallant men.’ This was all that remained of these proud Rats of Tobruk. In total 48 men from the 2/48th lost their lives in this battle. In added high praise about those who tended the wounded and collected those killed in action “It says much for them that not one man was missing in their search over the four thousand yards from Trig 29 to the Blockhouse, or in the attack of 3,600 yards to Ring Contour 25.” An horrific battle for the proud and very brave 2/48th Battalion who in future years were to proudly own the name ‘Rats of Tobruk” .
The events of that month created a turning point in Egypt. Glenn attempted to capture the conditions. ‘They were the unsmiling eyes of men who have killed or tried to kill and have faced death in its most vicious forms. Theirs was the pride and sorrow of me who had endured too much. When all else was forgotten, they would remember Alamein and their mates who died there…. They had lived a lifetime in one night.’ The men had survived being strafed by their own planes, witnessed their own trucks exploding and buried their own men. They also received the congratulations of Mongomery that ‘the part you have played is beyond all praise.’
Oscar was hospitalised for the next two months before boarding a hospital ship which arrived in Sydney on the 27th February, ’43. Having endured such challenging conditions in the Middle East, Oscar returned to South Australia, where he received on-going treatment for arthritis, resulting from the injury to his left hand and thumb. It was a particularly unsettling time for Oscar as in May he was granted an uncontested divorce from Kathleen who had been involved with another older soldier from the 2/6th Field Ambulance, with a very ‘colourful’ personal history.
By August that year, Oscar failed to attend Parade and besides a fine, was confined to barracks for a week. It was a difficult time for him. However, he met and became engaged to Gertrude Amelia Noble (Gertie), announced in the March 44 edition of the Advertiser. ‘NOBLE—AESCHE. The engagement is announced of Gertrude A. Noble, third daughter of Mrs and the late Mr. H. J. Noble. of Grange, to Oscar J. AIF. (Ret) only son of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Aesche, of Comaum S.E.’ The state of his hand meant that Oscar was adjudged unfit to handle a rifle effectively and by August ’44 his left index finger had to be amputated. Three months later he and Gertie married in November ’44, just prior to his discharge in February ’45.
By September ’47 the two announced the arrival of their son and only child. Advertiser Monday 8 September 1947, AESCHE (nee Noble). —On September 4, at Henley Private, to Gert and Oscar— a bonny son (Graham Herbert). Thanking Dr. C. A. Moody and all in attendance.
Unfortunately, Oscar’s challenges with alcohol emerged again when apprehended for driving a motor vehicle while so much under the influence of intoxicating liquor as to be incapable of exercising effective control. His licence was then cancelled for two years in February ’52. Two years later, Oscar rented a caravan at Sandwell where the owner was charged with deliberately overcharged Oscar and two other couples rent. The total excess rent charged by the defendant for a total of seven caravans was £42 8/3 and he was subsequently heavily fined.
Oscar’s 72-year-old father, Johannes died on the 21st June ’51 and was buried in the Lake Terrace Cemetery at Mount Gambier. Seventeen years later, Oscar’s 91-year-old mother, Maria died on the 11th August ’68.
Aged 59, Oscar died on the 21st February ’76 with a plaque in his honour placed in the Tailem Bend Cemetery. His name also heads the list of past Concordians who served in World War II and are honoured on the War Service Honour Board at Concordia College.
Gertie lived another two decades to be 80 years old. She died on the 8th June, 1996 and is acknowledged at the Enfield Memorial Park. Their son, Graham who lived to be 61, died in February 2009 and his remains were also returned to the family.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.