Photo of Enrico from War Services of Old Melburnians
Eric Frederick Catani
who was killed in action in France on 29th July 1916 was the elder
son of Mr. C.D.T.M Catani. He was born in 1891 and was at school from 1905 to
1909. In his last year at school he was in the football team. On leaving school
he went to Dookie Agricultural College, where he took his Diploma in 1912. He
had a farm near Kyneton when war broke out, but he gave it up and enlisted on
28th April 1915 and was appointed 2nd Lieut. in 21st
Battalion. “Puss” Catani, as every old boy of his time knew him, was a good
fellow and a good sportsman and he made a splendid soldier. He was one of the
troops on the “Southland” when she was torpedoed and was on Gallipoli from 4th
September 1915 to the evacuation on 20th December. During that time
he was away for three weeks, sick and wounded. He was acting as machine-gun officer
nearly all the time he was on the Peninsula. During the Lone Pine engagement a
6-inch high explosive shell burst on the edge of his machine gun. It killed two
of his men, wounded the other two, and buried him and his gun, and it was
sometime before he was dug out and could not speak or hear for a day
afterwards.
On his return to Egypt he was made Transport Officer and Staff
Officer of Railways at Ismailia, and eventually rejoined his battalion, in
which he had on 26th August 1915 been promoted to Lieutenant, and
went to France and was killed soon after the Australian went onto action. A
brother officer writing says: “He was the best and cheeriest of friends a man
could have, and the life and soul of the company whether things were going well
or ill. I never saw him downcast or out-of-sorts even when things were at their
worst, and I hardly think there was a man better loved by officers and men in
the division. His platoon would do anything for him and were inconsolable at
his loss. On the night of 29th July I was ordered to take my company
to hold a small trench which was the key to Pozieres. It meant marching in
pitch black through a perfectly hellish barrage which the enemy were throwing behind
the village. “Puss” was my senior company officer, and as my place was at the
front I sent him to the rear charged with that most difficult and all-important
of tasks - keeping the men blocked up when the shells began to take toll of the
ranks. How well he did his job you can imagine when I say that looking back
after getting through the barrage, I found the company blocked up as if on
parade. The losses had not been inconsiderable, but his cheery voice and
unfailing courage had caused every gap to be immediately filled. As they filed
past me into some temporary cover, as I expected, he greeted me with ‘Cheer oh!
Pretty warm trip, wasn’t it?’ I left him in charge and went to make a reconnaissance
of our new position. When dawn broke he was missing, and though we spared no
effort we found no trace of him. I hung on for days in the hope he had been
wound and evacuated through the English troops on our left, but was finally
forced to report him ‘Missing, believed killed’. In him I lost one of my very
best friends and the most capable officer I had”
His Colonel writes: “He had won the respect of, and endeared
himself to, both officers and men. He was one of the keenest officers that any
commanding officer had under him, that together with his happy disposition and
cheerfulness under all conditions made him a general favourite. He gave his
very best, and was devoted to his duties. Australia has reason to be proud of
her boys, and your son was a noble example even to Australians”
Cover and front page of War Services of Old Melburnians, complied by J. Beacham Kiddle, O.B.E.
This is the group photo - 1. E.B McKay; 2. C.C.D. St Pinnock; 3.E.A. Dyson; 4. K.R. Stephenson; 5. E.F. Catani; 6. J.H.R. Butler; 7. W.S. Campbell; 8. H.L. Franklin.
'The School will not forget"
"You, our brothers, who, for all our praying,
To this dear School of ours, come back no more"
