CH 3 – The Army Lieutenant
1945
She thought the lieutenant to be a dour, un-engaging man initially but after a few snorts he loosened up and had them all laughing at his sometimes uproarious tales involving winning bush motorbike races by devious means before the war together with his failed attempts at cross-country horse-riding in the Northern Territory during a recent ‘sojourn’ up north.
The four of them were now regulars at the hotel: the nurse, the lieutenant, her friend and husband all taking lunch in the beer garden or holding up the public bar if it was wet, the nurse listening quietly knowing both men worked at the nearby Army Water Base and at times they chatted about recent comings and goings through the submarine barrier. Aircraft carriers, American warships, Australian Navy vessels, submarines – She had been instructed to remember what she overheard had passed through the barrier at night in particular as identifying shipping in daylight was a popular pastime and something she had no doubt was logged by other members of the CPA. The nurse had also learnt schoolchildren had become quite expert at identifying warships and were encouraged to do so by their art teachers who held regular competitions to see which child could remember and draw the most.
Sometimes the women’s’ conversation turned to books and authors, films and plays. The men usually made little contribution until one afternoon the lieutenant brought to mind a couple of lines of verse his wife had read to him from one of her favourite books, commenting, ‘this sounds a little bit like you,’ she being an earnest church-goer.
“Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about; but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.”
‘You like Omar Khayyham?’ Asked the nurse.
‘Who?’
‘The man who wrote that verse.’
The lieutenant shrugged, ‘Never heard of him, Arab chap is he?’
‘Persian. Was.’
‘Bit of a boozer too,’ added the nurse’s friend, ‘A jug of bread and a loaf of wine, I remember that.’
They all laughed.
©
The Somerton Man .. 
Or closer to home, strange series of events in the Webb family. Coincidence or is there more to the cold war spy theory?
1943 both Roy and John Russell die during the war.
1944 Russell remarries , moves to Eltham and runs a bus company employing his 22 year old son Norman.
1944 Norman enlists in the RAAF becoming personal driver to Sir Frederick Shedden
” at the outbreak of WW2 Shedden was Australia’s most important public servant as the head of the Department of Defence. He was secretary of the War Cabinet and provided assistance to both prime ministers Curtin and Chifley.”
1946 March 5th Norman put in an urgent request to leave stating Russell is a cripple and living in a boarding house in St Kilda.
The same month Carl has a suicide attempt.
Late in the year Dorothy leaves and Eliza dies.
1947 Carl leaves Bromby Street.
1947 October Norman is granted leave.
1948 “Shedden spent time dealing with a leak of documents to the Soviet Union and the consequent reduction in the flow of classified information from the United States of America. ”
1948 Carl is found dead.
1949 Russell dies.
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Thank you Shabs… Shedden fits in very nicely.
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