Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Yass Tribune-Courier 5 Jun 1941

YASS BOY
In Three Naval Battles
Harley Bateup, son of Mrs. R-
Bateup, Cooma Street, Yass, has been
in three naval engagements since
March 28 last, at Cape Matapan, the
battle of Crete and the evacuation.
His mother forwards a copy of the
verse, dedicated to the memory of
the lads who have been killed while
training, which appeared in the
Weekly Review of R.A.A.F. in Canada.
He is lost to us now, but as the years
go by,
And the past grows hazy and dim,
In the morning, and noon, and the
evening
We will remember him.
We are proud to be numbered
With the rest of his friends,
In the years before the war.
It's a much better world, we're better
men,
For knowing him of yore.
Australia called us: one and all,
To the defence of our home and
family
And this quiet peace-loving lad
Answered so cheerfully.
He knew the chances he look,
But he counted them not;
They were part of the job—
Gunners are needed over there
To stop the heathen mob.
And whether 'tis here or in England;
He had only one life to give;
That he gave it too was part of the
plan,
In order that we might live.
matters not that he never saw the
foe;
That he never fired a gun;
All that counts is just that he died
Working against the Hun.

Yass Tribune Courier 25th Aug 1941

SAILOR OVERSEAS
APPRECIATES HIS
HOME TOWN EFFORT
Harley Bateup, writing from
Australian warship overseas, in a
letter to his mother, Mrs. R. Bateup,
says :•
No doubt you have been listening
in to the news and know by now
that we were hit the other day,
hope that you have not been worried
about it. It was just a bit of bad
luck. If you read the papers you
will find out as much, if not more,
about our movements than I care to
tell you. However, I'm quite sure
that we are pulling our weight well
in holding up the fair name of Australia.
When one sees this side of
the world, with its so-called picturesque
natives, one wonders why
Australia is not more thickly populated.
I can well understand why
people emigrate to Australia. It is
indeed a land of milk and honey.
However I shall not boost it too
much, lest you begin to believe that
you are living in "Utopia."
I received a parcel from the W.V.S.
the other day, containing shaving
soap, razor blades, socks, tobacco and
papers. You might thank them
kindly for me, please, as they are
doing wonderful work. I am quite
sure Yass is ahead of all other towns
in N.S.W. as far as its war workers
and Red Cross help is concerned.
Yass is a town to be proud of.