Beschreibung:

'We thought it best that I should come and do my share. Every man is needed if we are ever to lick these f----- swine, as they are usually called in England!' Major Oxenham on answering the call of duty in The Queenslander An interesting Great War M.C. group of three awarded to Major H. A. Oxenham, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, late Trooper, Transvaal Mounted Rifles A skilled Australian-born wireless operator who saw the world with his work, he had been on a Wireless Station off Honolulu at the outbreak of the Great War and became the first Queenslander to be commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps The first Commandant at the Joint School, Brooklands, Oxenham won himself an M.C. and also managed to 'borrow a rifle and bayonet' in order to go over the top on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916 whilst visiting an Advanced Battery before the end of the Great War Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse contemporarily engraved 'Major H. A. Oxenham R.A.F. 1916'; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major H. A. Oxenham. R.A.F.), mounted court-style for display by Spink & Son, St James's, London, very fine (3) M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917. Herbert Anselm Oxenham was born on 7 April 1876 at Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The Queenslander, 2 October 1915, gives further background: 'For some time he was in the telegraph office, Roma Street, then Rockhampton, and later took part in the Boer War [sic], afterwards taking up telegraph work in Durban and Johannesburg and Canada. He travelled as wireless operator for two years from the West Indies to England on the Oruba, and being skilled in wireless was appointed to a wireless station off Honolulu, which position he held with credit till lately, when he left for England, via New York, to offer his services to his country, and was given a commission as above. He is the first Queenslander to gain this distinction with the Royal Flying Corps.' Oxenham had previously served with the South African Light Horse and the Transvaal Mounted Rifles (Natal 1906 Medal) and first went to France in July 1915 with 3 Wing, Royal Flying Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant (1914-15 Star). He continues: 'Brooklands, Surrey, England. Am off to the Front. Wife stayed behind in New York. It was pretty hard parting for both of us; however, we thought it best that I should come and do my share. Every man is needed if we are ever to lick these f----- swine, as they are usually called in England. We had a long tedious trip from Honolulu to New York, especially across Canada, owing to delays caused by the war, and an exciting time crossing to England dodging submarines. Everybody stayed up on all the last nights with life belts on, in case of accidents. After a week or so hunting around I got the offer of this job from the War Office, and think it will pan all right when I get settled down to it, and somewhere near the Front. I am Lieutenant Wireless Equipment Officer, and have had quite a number of flights in the speedy aeroplanes, 6000ft or 7000ft up. I was a bit shaky on it the first time, but don't mind a bit now. My work doesn't call for flying but I have to go up occasionally, so may as well get used to it. Hope Leo is on the mend; the fighting is pretty hot in the Dardanelles. Only for this war I would have managed a trip home in a few months. Still, no use grumbling. I felt it was my duty to enlist, and put my little bit towards it. Have any of our young friends gone to the Front, or are they all hanging back, letting someone else fight for them? God knows there are plenty of single men here who should enlist before we old married men, but they lack the nerve, or don't care whether we are under the Germans or whom! Give my love to mother and dad, tell mother to cheer up. I'll be home one of these days and bring her an Iron Cross maybe. I have been here a month, and am getting well into the routine of this crack regiment.' Oxenham clearly made the front before long, as h