"Wild Eyes"
WAR CELEBRITY AT MT. DRUITT
Now residing at Mt. Druitt is John ("Barney ") Hines, who as a private of the 45th Battalion, sufficiently distinguished himself among his fellow Diggers as to be included in a series of articles published in "Reveille" some time ago.
An article by Q.S. Spedding is devoted to some impressions of this rugged soldier, from which we take the following:
The name.'' John Hines'' conveyed nothing to 99.9 per cent of the A.I.F. It was never blazoned across the pages of the Australian papers to enthuse the reading public. It did not creep into those mysterious lists that permitted metal oak leaves upon the watered splendour of the Victory ribbons. It is not found In those archives where are preserved the records of men
who won the coveted British decorations. It was ignored by those who lavished Crolx-de-Guerre and Serbian eagles upon the heroes who looked out upon Fritz a few yards distant—heard him wind his Swiss watch quiet frosty evenings, and gurgle from his field soda-water bottle and munch his blood and sawdust when the lull came on hot nights.
Yet "Barney," with his not over long-comparatively-front-line service fully earned his place under this special heading of "A.IF. Celebrities.''
Not that "Wild Eyes," as he came to be known among his intimates, and later to the pictorially interested of several Continents, was or is a celebrity in the real sense of the word. Not because he was a typical Digger. He wasn't. Not because of any particular achievement, but—because he was an outstanding character—the hard-bitten representative of just one of the many little groups of men who made the A.I.F. as a whole—the '' dags."
"He was a tower of strength to the 45th Battallion," according to Colonel A. S. Allen, D.S.O., Croix-de-Guerre, whom we have to thank for the basic facts of this article. And the Colonel adds, " .... while he was in the line.''
Out of the line he caused the officers many grey hairs. He was, in the words of another 45th officer, "Two pains in the neck."
But because of his good work in facing the enemy, Hines was given plenty of licence. And he took it.
In the stern stuff Hlnes was worth any two men. He was a bomber, and how he loved his Mills! It would not have been a war for'' Barney " if " Mr Mills" had not made popular his iron pineapple with the pin attachment.
Hines enlisted to Sydney in July, 1915, but was discharged as medically unfit during January, 1916. Re-enlisting in August, 1916, he was posted to reinforcements of the 45th and joined the Battalion at Le Barque on the old Somme battlefield on April 1—
just before Bullecourt.
He saw more hard fighting than the average Digger and was wounded at Messines on 7/6/'17, and at Villers Bretonneux on 3/7/'17, and unofficially at Zonnebeke and at Etaples in an air raid. He was invalided to Australia in October, 1918.
Hines first tasted war in the snow and the sunken road at Noreuil. Coal boxes were the order. ,"I stuffed two sandbags with Mills,'' "Barney" has related subsequently, "and I was set to move up." So to the railway line in front of Bullecourt. And every-
where that this big fellow went afterwards the bombs were sure to go.
The battalion was relieved on 13th April, but it was fitting that even is his first stunt, "Barney"'and three mates should lose touch. To use his own words, "We found ourselves in de Fitzy front line. "Barney" had some of his bombs left 'and the quartette worked back Into No Man's Land. At daylight they were chased into the 18th Battalion lines with "whizz bangs." "Barney,'' his bags ggain (sic) well weighted with bombs and eager for more, found the 45th at Bapaume.
First time out of the line at Hellencourt, Hines "souvenired"—it was his big weakness—a donkey and cart and was enjoying himself immensely cavorting on the roadway, when an officer of the 46th interferring (sic), made the donkey shy. '' Barney'' flew over the donk's head and dislocated his shoulder.
"Barney"' nurses real a grudge against the doctor who visited him in billets that evening.' "He said that as I did not belong to de Light Horse I would have to put up wid it," complains "Wild Eyes.'' "Barney's" worry then was that he might be able only to carry one bag of bombs.
And so to Neuve Eglise in preparation for Messines. In Armentieres "Barney"' "discovered" a keg of Bass beer which he started to roll battalionwards. An "Enzed'' M.P. intervened, but "Barney'' had a brotherly feeling to all kegs as he had to all bombs. He
sat down in the roadway with some uninvited guests and only a five-nine moved them on. But not before water bottles and tin hats had been filled to the brim.
In the dawn of the following morning Hines and his bombs, fresh as a lark, "hopped over" from Stinking Farm. "We got him out in de open and I think we could have gone to Germany," says "Barney."
Hines and 2nd/Lieut. Hopgood, separated from their fellows, were in the vicinity of Octagon Trench "when the officer was wounded in the arm. "Barney" then climbed on top of a pill-box offering resistance, and suddenly and unexpectedly, dropped
down right in front of the door to the amazement of the Germans. He '' sent in a few Mills'' to pacify them. "The rest,'' he says naively, "kameraded to me." "The rest" totalled 63.
The articles narrates various instances of daring; and gallantry by '"Barney." Then goes on:—In the Passchendaele fighting Hines did yeoman work. He was the only survivor of his Lewis gun team when his mates were all wiped out by a shell which had dropped right in their midst. That shell ripped the soles off Hines' boots and blew him about fifty yards up the hill. He went back and buried his '' best mate,'' Pte, Coleman, and the others salved the gun and carried on alone until hit with a piece of spent shrapnel, a splinter of which entered his knee.
A "Blighty" leave followed, and "Barney" turned up a week or so late. A new found "cobber" and a bottle of whisky at the port of embarkation had delayed him.
Then Villers Bretonneux. '' We had a good time," says our hero. "I found de brewery. Dere was champagne 1870 and herrings and tomatoes and sardines in galore. We had top hats and dress-suits and everting that was required to go to a dance. And then I got my issue of gas and one over de eye." - That wna almost the end for "Barney."
He did not want to leave the battalion. He never did when the M.G. 's were throbbing and the big stuff was being exchanged. But he went blind and was drafted back from dressing station to the back areas. The hospital train that carried him to Etaples was bombed en route. Fritz might have known!
Hines had been abed for three weeks when a German bombing squadron came over and "Barney" says he does not want to see such sights again. His hospital pillow was riddled with shrapnel and he got a piece in the heel. Fritz; must have known!
"Wild Eyes," despite his hurts, got out of bed and carried wounded nurses and doctors and patients to safety, all that night. A big hard-bitten yet kindly-natured and most likeable man with the scars of war on his face and his health weakened by the rigors of war.,"Barney" to-day is to be found in an old dilapidated shack at Mt.Druitt, living a lonely life and subsist ing on a war pension of 10/6 a week.
