118 | April• 2018
PARTISAN PROMISE
paying respect to a frail, decorated war
hero from their own defence history.
Ern visited Eric Baty in New Zea-
land 46 years after their escape. hey
talked about the time the Partisan at-
tacked his brother and how Ern had
stopped Eric from getting involved.
“Eric thanked me for saving his life
that time,” Ern told me in 2009. “hey
would have shot him for sure. But I
said, ‘No, Eric, it’s me who must thank
you for saving my life in the river.’”
It took Ern more than 60 years to
bring himself to write about his war
experiences. He comes from a gener-
ation who were taught to be stoic but
reticent in the face of misfortune.
Writer Kim Kelly worked closely
with Ern, talking with him every day
for a month to research his memoir.
She found that he did not want to talk
about what happened when he re-
turned to Australia. “he idea of PTSD
was not talked about in his day,” she
explains. “hey used alcohol instead.
Today, he is clear-sighted about it and
believes returned soldiers need a story
debrief about their war experiences,
such as writing it down or speaking
into a microphone.”
It helped Ern to be able to tell his
war story. “He believed going to war
was important and why Australia went
to war was important, but Ern is still
anti-war,” says Kim. “He thinks war
makes no sense.” Ern remains close
to her heart – Kim last visited Ern in
Geelong last September.
TodayErnlivesalone.Lizzievisits
mostdaysandhekeepsactivetend-
ingoaktreesinhisgarden.Mostof
his mates from the war have gone.Allan died in 1985, aged 67. Eric
died in 1999, aged 80. Edna May,
Ern’swifeofmorethan60years,in
2004.Shewas81.Ernwassograte-
fulforthetreatmentshereceivedat
Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital
that he sold his land and donated
$300,000towardsbuyinganecho-
cardiograph machine.
“I keep saying to him that he has
to get to 100,” says Lizzie. He is now
the last surviving Rat of Tobruk in
Geelong.
When I handed the cap back to Ern
in Canberra, he paused before hand-
ing it over to Nelson. I thought Ern
was about to say what I was think-
ing –that it was more than a cap,ERN COMES FROM A GENERATION WHO WERE
TAUGHT TO BE STOIC BUT RETICENT
IN THE FACE OF MISFORTUNEPHOTO: AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL