THE BALLARD OF POP AND NAN

Every ANZAC Day I sit down with my kids and explain to them what their Great Grandfather did in the first World War. Some of it sinks in and that’s all you can ask, really. I’m lucky this ANZAC Day in that last September The Australian published a piece from me about my Pop and Nan and Pop’s small role in the history of the first war in the trenches of Western Europe. Thanks are owed here to The Australian, for its kind permission to run the story in this link, to Angus and Robertson, for publishing the original trench edition of Ginger Mick, to Neil James of the Plain English Foundation for returning Pop’s copy to our family, to Stan Grant and the ABC show Matter of Fact, for running the initial piece on the book, and of course, to my Pop and Nan, for having my Mum and for being the best grandparents a little bloke could ever wish for.

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