Letter from the past unfolds a human saga
My daughter-in-law hands me an old book, saying “Uncle Somasiri, I think you will find this interesting”.
It is an old copy of Platé’s “The Hundred Best Views of Ceylon”, printed in the years of the First World War. The soft dark green paper cover is a bit tattered, but all the pages intact. Fascinated by the black-and-white photographs, I scan through them, looking for pictures of boats, my special interest. Then I look at the cover again, and find a handwritten note in an old-fashioned, slanting hand:
“You want to save this book till I come home and I will show you all the places I was at take it over to Selt and show him and let him keep it for something to show Papa”
Intrigued, I flip through the book, looking for more.
“Where did you find this?” I ask.
“Oh, there is this girl who was with me at Uni in Sydney. She picks up anything about Sri Lanka she finds in odd places and sends them to me”, she says.
I turn the book over, look at the back cover and open it, and there – written from edge to edge on the end paper, in the same large, slanting hand – is a letter from a young boy to his mother.
“March 1st.1917
Colombo
Pte Kaehne AIF 9/50 Infantry number 3424
On active Service.
Dear Mother,
Just a few lines to let you know that I am alright hoping you are the same. We are having a good time I saw what I will never see again was yesterday I and all the rest about six hundred of us went to Kandy that is about 72 miles from Colombo it only cost us two shilling and eight pence there and back my word the best picture in the world. We was about 1689 feet above sea level we went through six tunnels they were all different lengths some about half a mile and all the cocoanut trees and all the trees, all blacks there are only about thirty white people there altogether some of the buildings have been there about two hundred years and there is a lake on the top of the hill. all the 72 miles it was it was all hills about two or three times higer than Mount Remarkable my word some of the places where the train went it ran on the edge, if it ran of it would go thousands of feet, you wouldn’t believe it till you seen it the trains travel quicker than thoughs in Australia there were thirteen carraiges and a brake van. We landed in Colombo one Tuesday and we are leaving on Friday when I come back I will tell all the news about Ceylon. I was only sea sick twice one day. I am alright now good has gold nothing to do and plenty of time to do it in, it will do me, we are all the time on the look out for thoughs tin fish that floats about in the sea, we train to get into our life belts get to our place in case of a miss hap. I think thats all the news this time more next time we are going to stop three more times on our travels that will be alright.
Close with love from
Norman”
I was hooked. It is a young boy-soldier from an Australian backwoods who has written this exuberant letter, while cheerfully going to a war in which the ANZAC troops had been decimated. But he was going, ready to die. He does not seem to know much of the world outside his hometown. This is, perhaps, the first time he is away from home.
He tells his mother not to worry about his seasickness and makes joke about “the tin fish that float about in the sea” – making light of the ever-present danger from enemy submarines. He is positively effervescent over his trip to Kandy, his first experience on foreign soil noting, like a schoolboy, the distance in miles, the height above sea-level, the lake up in the mountains – mountains much bigger than “Mount Remarkable”, the biggest he has seen – “my word” he exclaims – and he is looking forward to returning home, a be-medalled hero, to impress his stay-at-home friends and family with his tales of foreign lands.
Is this his first letter home? Probably: for he has drafted it out in pencil (chewing the end, scratching his head, careful not to upset the Censor) from edge to edge of the page. Then he has inked it over, dipping his steel nib in an inkwell, sitting at a table somewhere ashore.
Did he survive the war, or not? I thought there was a chance he did, as the war did not last beyond the next year. If he did, what battles, what horrors, had he faced? And back home, undoubtedly be-medalled, what happened to him?
I had to find out. I decided to ask my colleagues on an e-mail maritime history study group I subscribed to, and. I wrote:
“To: MARHST-L
From: Somasiri Devendra
Subject: A voice from the past
The gush of interest this evoked spoke eloquently of the universal appeal of this letter. Correspondence quickly followed:
“Hi Somasiri
Can you scan the letter on to the net? If at all possible I would like to use it as a text for students studying WW I.
BRAD”
“Like very much to see that letter, Somasiri. I can print it out for insertion under the cover of my copy of “Over There with the Australians”, by Capt. Hugh Knyvett. (My library is loaded with books full of appropriately related clips and snips — it’s part of my dubious filing system.)
FRANK”
100 years ago: World War 1 battlefront
I
“According to the Nominal Roll of the 1st Australian Imperial Force, 3424 Pte Norman Charles Kahne (not Kaehne, although this may be a clerical error) enlisted in the AIF on 17 October 1916. He returned to Australia on 16 June 1919.
The Nominal Roll can be perused on the Australian War Memorial’s website at:<http://www.sundaytimes.lk/141123/>
As for Kahne’s unit, he served with the 50th Battalion, 13th Brigade, 4 Australian Infantry Division. In 1917 50 Div fought at Noreuil, Bullecourt, Messines, Zonnebeke and Passchendaele. In 1918 it countered the great German offensive at Hebuterne and Dernancourt and retook Villers-Bretonneux (the school in the town, bears the sign ‘Never forget Australia’). This was followed by Monash’s classic set piece battle at Hamel and then the great offensives of the ‘Hundred Days’ which destroyed the German Army and forced the Armistice.
RIC”
“Probably not a ‘clerical error’ – just a reflection of the normal suppression of diacritic marks by English-speakers (see also most editions of Lloyd’s Register). His name would appear to be of German origin, and he has used the normal German alternative of _ae_ instead of _ä_ (a- umlaut).
DAVID”
“Yes, very likely considering Kahne was in a South Australian unit and that state had (and has) a large German population, many of which were interned in WW I.
There were also two men named Kaehne in the 1st AIF.
RIC”
It was my turn to write again, thanking them…:
Following Ric’s directions, I accessed the Australian records and found that the Army (with typically efficiency) had enlisted him as KAHNE, Norman Charles, although he has called himself KAEHNE. But, perhaps, in those days, such trifles did not matter.
Then, I hit pay-dirt:
“Dear Somasiri
As possibly the only Adelaide rep. of MARHST-L group I was interested to hear of your story a few days ago re- Norman Kaehne and since that time I have been trying to locate relatives of the man concerned. I’m happy to say I now believe I’ve been successful in this. However, I did not feel it my place to seek further details of the man at this stage.
I did send her all the material that’s been on the list, including a copy of the letter he wrote. However, as far as any extra publicity is concerned at the moment, Norman’s niece does not wish to see this matter go any further than between the three of us, and if that’s the case then I feel we must respect her wishes. However, I understand she is willing to send you further details, photographs etc. of Norman that the family holds and she is naturally most delighted about what you have found after all these years.
There is of course in all of this, something of an ethical dilemma in what you have found. Of course what you have, they would now regard as a family heirloom and one wonders just how they came to part with it in the first place? They would naturally like to see the book, with its letter, returned to the family, but as I’ve explained to her, this would be highly unlikely given the fact that the booklet is now of quite some local historical value. She quite understands this. However, if you could see your way to getting a photocopy of (say) the cover and Norman’s letter, I’m sure they would be delighted to receive same.
Once I’ve received your reply to this email, I would be happy to send you further particulars that will enable you to make contact with her directly. By the way Norman has a sister who is 98. I haven’t spoken to her, but apparently she still has a great deal to say.
Best wishes
JOHN”
John merited a reply:
‘Thank you for the trouble you have taken and the sensitivity that you have shown. I would have approached the matter in quite the same way myself.
Yes, the book has a value to me personally and as Yes, the book has a value to me personally and as a piece of 20th.century history, and I would like it to remain here. I will not do anything (publication etc.) as its interest to me is, largely, human. It is the human being whose voice intrigues me, and the fact that he was so chirpy while going on a voyage that might lead him to his death. That is why I am happy that he got back safe. I will get photocopies of the book and send it on to his niece. I suppose Norman died long ago and that this book got into some junk that was given away. Still, I would be happy to let her have the photocopy and, if I ever make it to Adelaide I will try to show it to her…
- which brought me even more pay-dirt:
“Dear Somasiri
I have recently spoken to Norm Kaehne’s son, Don, – he’s in his early 70s, and he lives in Adelaide…..I don’t think Don will have any objection to your using the material you have re- his father. Bu it would appear the book on Ceylon wasn’t the only item that went astray. Don tells me his father came home with thick, newspaper size photographic record of WW1, he recalls it being printed on very glossy paper. He lent it to someone, can’t remember who, and it was never returned. I have a friend in UK who is an authority on WW1 and he may be able to help and let me know what this particular publication was.
Don was also contacted some years ago by an Australian historian about his father and he believes some of his father’s recollections were used in a book…
Anyway Don Kaehne’s address is:………………..”
- and a final, down-to-earth query:
“Somasiri
Did you ever close the loop and send Norm Kaehne’s son a copy of the letter he wrote from his troopship on his way to WWI.?
With ANZAC Day upon us fairly soon, I may be seeking an opportunity to discuss some WWI matters on local radio, Kaene being one of them, if permission is forthcoming
Regards
JOHN”
The letter, in fact, had now been scanned and it was time to close the loop. I wrote to Norman’s son and mailed it along with the scanned image.
“Dear Mr. Kaehne,
As this is the first time I am writing to you, I am being somewhat formal! May I call you Don after this? I had meant to write this letter to you quite some time ago but it is only now that I can send you the document that I wanted to send you. I am sorry the book is of a queer size and some bits have gone missing in the scanning process, but I have given the text in full below. From reading the correspondence that took place last November-December on the Marine History e-mail List, MARHST-L – which I am including here – you will see how many are interested in the saga of your father, which fell like a gift on my lap…..
I am sending you only a copy of what has been handwritten by Norman – the book is of value to me for another reason than this link I have forged with you. It shows a whole lot of pictures of my country 80+ years ago and some of them have to do with a line of research I am following. Do forgive me for keeping it.
I was a schoolboy in Kandy in the middle 1940s. Kandy is the place your Dad took a train ride to. Soon after Darwin was bombed in February 1942, Colombo was also bombed on Easter Sunday, 1942 (today is the 58th.Easter Sunday after that). Kandy became the HQ of SACSEA (Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia) Lord Mountbatten. Colombo was the western-most point the Japanese reached and that day was called, by Churchill, ‘The most dangerous moment’ of the war. Kandy was soon flooded with young men from all over the world going to or coming from the forward areas. We were great friends with them, and their faces, their ways, their youthfulness, their willingness to horse around with us boys: all came back to me when I read Norman’s letter. The story is full of human interest and I would like your permission to write it up as a story – one that will show the human face of e-mail contact. As you can see, I am not the only one interested: one wants to paste it inside his book about the Australians in WW1, another wants to use it as teaching material about WW1 and yet another lists the campaigns his unit fought in. Norman Kaehne has now become a piece of world history and he belongs no longer to your family alone, but the family of Man. So I do hope you will allow me to make this available to other serious persons and for me to make a story out of it. You will see how so many strands bind so many of us together…”
May you be happy, Norm, wherever you are. Maybe our paths will cross again!
