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Australia

BISSET David (Peggie)  #1712   15th Battalion / #4000 57th Battalion

David Bisset was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. His sister reported he attended the Robert Gordon College in Aberdeen. At age 21 he emigrated to Australia and settled in Petrie where he worked as an ironmonger. Ironmongery was the forerunner of the modern hardware store that specialised in metal hardware such as nails, screws and bolts.

David presented for enlistment in Brisbane on 23rd January 1915. He stated he was 23 years old. His enlistment papers describe him as of average height with pale skin and red hair. David presented himself to Fraser’s Paddock Enoggera where he was taken on as a reinforcement for the 15th Battalion which had already sailed for Egypt the previous month.

Eventually the reinforcements for a number of Queensland units assembled in Sydney and sailed direct to Egypt. David’s army file contains no details of his arrival in Egypt but it can be assumed that by late March or early April he had joined the battalion lines at Mena on the outskirts of Cairo.

The Mena Camp was the cause of a great deal of grief for the Australian and British commanders. Its location close to Cairo and generous leave arrangements allowed large numbers of Australians and New Zealanders to go into the city. Cairo possessed a large number of establishments that were only too willing to service the needs of foreign troops. Additionally Australian troops were paid well, five times as much as British soldiers, so there was plenty of incentive and opportunity to have a good time.

Unfortunately, a number of men were unable to moderate their behaviour in the bars and brothels. Complaints were regularly received about Australians being drunk, abusive to those in authority as well as being in town without leave passes. On top of the general unruly behaviour, there was the added problem of venereal disease. Syphilis was endemic in the brothels of Cairo and many young Australians ignored the advice from command about contracting “the pox”. VD was difficult to cure in the pre antibiotic era and those affected would have to spend several weeks in special wards or hospitals ( the average period of hospitalisation for syphilis was 52 days). It was also noted by medical authorities that the strain of syphilis prevalent in Cairo was of a particularly virulent kind. Whilst these men were in hospital, they were unable to contribute to the work of their units. When stories began to appear in the Australian press about the behaviour of some of the troops the authorities, and particularly the commander of the Australian Corps Maj Gen Bridges, acted quickly, lest the name of Australia be sullied.

It was quickly announced that VD patients would lose their pay for the period of hospitalisation. Men who had committed crimes in Egypt such as persistent breaking of camp or drunkenness were to be sent back to Australia; their papers stamped “Services no longer required – Discharged.” Up to 1400 VD cases were also shipped back to Australia where they were interned in a special camp at Langwarrin on the outskirts of Melbourne.

David Bisset was one of those 1400 and his file bears the entry:

17/7/15    RTA (return to Australia) HMAT “Kyarra”. VD  Langwarrin Vic.

Langwarrin was a former training camp from the time of the Boer War. During the First World War it was initially converted to a detention camp for German and Turkish detainees. In the middle of 1915 the camp was redesignated as a Dermatological Hospital, with the barbed wire and guard towers retained to contain the patients. This harsh treatment, and the poor living conditions, angered the patients of the camp and led to a number of outbursts of defiance which culminated in a mass breakout in October 1915. Amongst those on the run was David Bisset.

David was posted as a deserter on 18th November. Rather than stay on the run, and perhaps to redeem himself in the eyes of his family and friends, David re-enlisted at Broadmeadows camp on 22nd November under his own name. The next day he embarked for overseas again with a new service number as a reinforcement for the 57th Battalion. He arrived back in Egypt almost a year after his first landing but things had changed.

The authorities had learnt the lessons of the Mena camp experience and had relocated the Australian camp to Tel el Kebir close to the town of Ismailia on the Suez Canal. It was surrounded by desert and was miles from Cairo. David was posted initially to the 59th Battalion but was again transferred to the 57th a month later. The early months of 1916 saw a huge expansion of the AIF doubling the number of infantry divisions. This expansion meant that there were a lot of raw recruits scattered amongst Gallipoli veterans in each battalion. Training in the desert was ramped up in preparation for the entire infantry force to be sent to the Western Front. The 57th Battalion, as part of the 5th Division, arrived in Marseilles on 23rd June 1916 and immediately boarded trains for the northern sector of the front.

Ten days after arriving at the front, and with little time to acquaint themselves with the methods of trench warfare, the division went into action at Fromelles. The slaughter that ensued was such that the entire division was finished as a fighting force for the remainder of the year. The Brigade Commander, “Pompey “Elliot, never got over the loss of so many of his fine Victorians. He suffered from PTSD for the rest of his life and although elected to parliament after the war to push for humane treatment of returned servicemen, he eventually took his own life. David Bisset’s role at Fromelles was primarily in a support role. After Fromelles, and while the battle of the Somme raged for the next six months, David had a relatively quiet time behind the lines.

During the bitter winter of 1916/17, David was granted a 30 day leave to England. He probably took the opportunity to visit his sister in Aberdeen. What stories he could have told.

The early months of 1917 for the 57th were taken up with training in preparation for the summer offensive which would begin at Messines in June and continue for the next six months across the flooded fields of Belgian Flanders. In July David was promoted to Lance Corporal (putting him in charge of a section within his platoon) and in September was in action at Polygon Wood. As the Passchendaele campaign wound down for the winter, David was granted his second period of leave in England. This time he returned to camp with another dose of VD and would spend a total of 102 days in the VD wards at Rouen before returning to his unit. During this time he received no pay and his pay book was stamped “Pay withheld VD 102 days”.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Hamel on the Somme on 5th July 1918, David sustained a shrapnel wound to the face. He spent the next month in a casualty clearing station before returning to his battalion. This period of the war was different to the previous three years of stalemate. The Australian corps under the leadership of the newly knighted Sir John Monash had turned the war into one of movement as the hard pressed Germans were swiftly pushed back towards the Hindenburg Line. Fierce resistance was encountered in and around the fortress town of Peronne and the hill which overlooked it, Mont St Quentin.

An official account of an incident at Peronne on 1st September 1918 states:

“LCpl Bisset was on patrol with the Company Commander in no man’s land when they were raked with machine gun fire. Bisset fell and is assumed killed.” A later search of the area could find no trace of Bisset’s body and the designation KIA was amended to “assumed POW – Wounded.”

Despatches from the Swiss Red Cross indeed had David Bisset listed as a POW but unfortunately he would die of his wounds on 19th September 1918 while in German hands. The war ended two months later.

In a final twist to this remarkable story, Base Records in Melbourne received a letter from a Miss Agnes Gordon of “Auchpine” Petrie. Miss Gordon stated that she was the fiancé of David Bisset and would like to be considered as his next of kin when medals were distributed. She had not seen David since he enlisted back in 1915.

David Bisset’s name is not recorded on the Pine Rivers Roll of Honour.