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Fundraising was not the only way that the wars touched the students of Princes Hill. Fathers, brothers and ex-students left for war.64 During the First World War, Doris’s thirteen-year-old brother disappeared, to be found some days later at Broadmeadows army barracks. Les Furney was an early casualty at Gallipoli.65 Ray Aarons, who had joined the Royal Navy in 1938, spent the war at sea. As a member of Special ‘Z’ Commando Unit, he served on the Krait, a little ship active behind enemy lines in sabotage work against Japanese ships. Phil Levy served in the RAAF; Florence Mitchell was a signalwoman on the LHQ heavy wireless; Evelyn Cuthbert joined the WAAF; Anne Haylock’s father, a professional soldier, was seldom stationed in Melbourne. Arthur Sparks, famous for his uninterrupted attendance record, was fatally wounded.66 Teachers left too. Frank McNamara, Eve’s grade 2 teacher, was still a lad when he left. When he returned to visit Princes Hill after the war, he brought his Victoria Cross to show his old students.
Frank McNamara at far left in Egypt, May 1917
He remained in the air force and rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal.67 The return of another teacher was not as happy. His nervous disorder forced him to quit teaching.68 Not everyone returned. One student recalled that the death of Mr Fletcher, who had enlisted in the AIF, ‘deeply saddened me, and I truly grieved about him’.69
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