Bart Bear's Blog

In Newcastle there is a special part of my family history. The big building on the hill is Christ Church Cathedral, and tucked away in a corner of it is a special memorial display to a real soldier hero who came from Newcastle. He was Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, my Great-great-grandma's cousin, and he won the Victoria Cross during the Battle of Passchendaele on the 12th of October 1917, a fortnight before his 23rd birthday. On that day he led his company in an attack on several German pillboxes (machine gun posts). When his force was pinned down he took a small group of fourteen soldiers, made his way around behind the enemy positions and captured four of the machine guns and thirty-five prisoners. Later in the day he was killed trying to neutralize another pillbox. He is buried in Tyne Cot war cemetry, near where he fell. His VC is part of the display in the Cathedral, one of the few VC's not kept in the Australian War Memorial. There is a special commemorative chair there as well, but Dad won't let me sit in it when we visit. I hate the stupidity and waste that is war, but I also feel proud that this small bear has one of the bravest of soldiers in his family tree.

By the way, that thing that looks like a flying saucer on a pole is a lookout tower where you can climb up and see what is happening in the harbour. Well worth doing if you don't mind lots of stairs.

Labels: family, heroes, New South Wales, Newcastle