Salvo ‘Rats’ up with the best
- deansimpson7
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
BY BARRY GITTINS
“Who’s the best-known Australian in Tobruk?”
Melbourne’s Sun newspaper wrote that the very same question was put to a bunch of wounded diggers from Tobruk, who’d arrived safely back home.
The answer? “The Salvation Army bloke.”
The Herald said that the Salvo bloke was four chaps: “Brigadier Arthur McIlveen, Major Arthur Mawson, and Adjutants John Simmons and William Tibbs ... They are the only distributors of comforts in Tobruk, and they have been bombed 1000 times.”
By The Salvation Army’s reckoning, the Herald had neglected to mention Brigadier Charles ‘Jock’ Geddes, who’d been hospitalised and repatriated back in June 1941.
Arthur was evacuated in August that year, Bill in September, and John and Arthur left Tobruk in October.
In its spiel, the Herald noted that Bill Tibbs had “the back of his mobile van blown off ... for the second time”, while Arthur Mawson had been bombed nine times while he’d written a letter home.
“They seem to bear charmed lives,” the Herald opined.It should be noted that, after he’d finished as a Red Shield Representative, Bill Tibbs died in a plane crash flying from New Guinea to Queensland.
This September marks 80 years since the end of World War Two.
