Every year on Anzac Day we remember those who have given their lives for their country. Twenty one Saints have been identified as having fought in World Wars and failed to return. All were young men who heard the call to arms, enlisted and then proceeded overseas to fight for their country and friends. They did not return to their families and they did not return to their friends or the Saints, the club for which they played.

This Anzac day I will focus on the most recent Saint to have been identified by AFL historians as having laid down his life for his country and friends.

Otto Lowenstern

Otto played 12 games for the Saints in 1910 and 1911. He was recruited from Dandenong and played one game in his first year. In 1911 he played 11 games the majority on the back line.

He was born on December 7th 1888, the son of Isaac Lowenstern of 104 Darling Rd, East Malvern.

Following his two years at the Saints he moved to Canada where on 26th November 1914 he joined the Canadian overseas expeditionary force service number 2908.

He was attached to Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), R.C.A.C.
At the outbreak of World War One, Lord Strathcona’s Horse was mobilised in Calgary Canada and then began its training in England. In 1915, Lord Strathcona's Horse served as infantry in the trenches in France. On 16 February 1916, the Strathcona's were reconstituted as a mounted force. In March 1917, the Regiment again saw action as cavalry during the defence of the Somme front. The Strathcona Horse took part in the last recorded Calvary charge of WWI on 30 March 1918, but by that time Sergeant Otto Lowenstern had been killed in action in France on December 1st 1917. Otto is remembered at the Vimy Memorial which is Canada’s most impressive overseas tribute to those Canadians who fought and gave their lives in WWI. Inscribed on the ramparts of the Vimy Memorial are the names of over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as missing, presumed dead in France. Otto Lowenstern’s name is inscribed on the memorial.

The Ode

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET

The Honour Roll
World War I

Gallipoli
Claude Terrell Crowl. Private 8th Battalion Australian Army - 3 games for the Saints in 1911.

Louis Gordon Holmes. Captain 3rd Infantry Brigade HQ, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 1 game for the Saints 1910.

Arthur Edward Caldwell. Private 4th Battalion Australian Infantry - 8 games for the Saints in 1909.

Fromelles. Western Front, France
Hugh McDonald Plowman. Captain, 60th Battalion AIF- 26 Games for the Saints 1910 - 1912.

Pozieres
John Preston Walker- (Jack Walker), Sergeant, 8th Battalion, Infantry A.I.F. 4 games for the Saints, 1910-1911.

James (Jim) Farnan, Private 46th Battalion Infantry AIF, 1 game for the Saints 1899.

Ypres/ Menin Road, Belgium.
Herbert Dean O’Connell. Corporal 60th Battalion AIF, 2 games for the Saints in 1908.

Bullecourt France
William Charles Madden. , L/Cpl 22nd Battalion AIF, 26 games for the Saints 1908-1909.

The Somme
Patrick McGuinness, Private 51st Battalion AIF, 1 game for the Saints 1901.

Prisoner of War, Died of wounds in a Bavarian Field Hospital, Lille France.
Harold C Parker 2nd Lt 37th Battalion AIF, 3 games for the Saints in 1911.

In the Air
Ralph Robertson - Second Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps, and 8th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, 14 games for the Saints 1899- 1900.

World War 2
Tobruk
Jack A Shelton - Lieutenant 2/24 Infantry Battalion- 28 games for the Saints 1926, 1928 and 1929, 7 games for South Melbourne 1930.

Prisoner of War, Burma
William Downie - Private 105 General Transport Company, 15 Games for the Saints 1933. 54 Games for Footscray 1929-32.

New Guinea
Ross William (Bill) Hudson- Lance Corporal 51 Australian Field Company, 5 games for the Saints 1942.

Tarakan Borneo
Harold W.J Comte- Private 2/24 Australian Infantry Battalion, 104 games for the Saints 1930- 1937.

Balikpapan Borneo
Paul Bell - (Alfred William Paul Bell). Lance Corporal 2/5 Australian Commando Squadron, 15 games for the Saints 1937-1938.

In the Air, RAAF
Stuart Patrick King - Flying Officer 20 squadron Royal Australian Air Force, 43 games for the Saints 1931-1933.

Beresford Stanley Reilly - Pilot Officer 454 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, 2 games for the Saints 1938, 8 games Nth Melbourne 1935 to 1936 and 3 games for Melbourne in 1937.

Robert Barnes Flegg- Warrant Officer Royal Australian Air Force, 70 Squadron,18 games for the Saints 1941.

On Active Service Australia
Wallace Hickford Mills (William Mills) Warrant Officer Class 11, Australian Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers attached to the 2/3rd Field Regiment, 1 game for the Saints 1937.

References:
Heroes with Haloes, St Kilda’s One Hundred Greatest, Russell Holmesby
Fallen the Ultimate Heroes- Footballers who never returned from war. Jim Main and David Allen. Crown Content.
The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers - Russell Holmesby and Jim Main. Crown Content,
Anzac to Amiens - C E W Bean.
First World War - Martin Gilbert. Harper Collins
Australian War Memorial Archives. www.awm.gov.au
Gallipoli - Les Carlyon. Pan McMillan
The Great War, Les Carlyon. Pan McMillan
Australia Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website
AFL Record Round 5 April 25-27, 2003 Article, “Honoured at Last” by David Allen.
AFL Record Round 4 2006 21-25 April 2006
AFL Record Round 5 2007 25-29 April 2007
Veterans Affairs Canada
Lord Strathcona’s Horse website
Paul Daffy: http://www.australianrules.com.au/2004stories/daffeysoldiers.html Commando Double Black: A Historical Narrative of the 2/5th Australian Commando Squadron- A. Pirie. From the website www.gould.com.au
National Archives of Australia- The Collection
The Western Front Diaries, Jonathan King, Simon and Schuster
The Ode comes from For the Fallen, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon and was published in London in the Winnowing Fan; Poems of the Great War in 1914.
Fromelles Patrick Lindsay, Hardie Grant Books