An Empire Bay researcher has uncovered a fascinating story about a local World War One commando whose bravery in the Flanders Fields help save the lives of his men.
Trish Skehan, who is a researcher with the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society, said she was working on a different story when she came across the story of the Snow Ghost – Lieutenant Dalton Neville.
Skehan said the last local WWI veteran, James (Jim) Armitage, who died at Brentwood Village in 1999, wrote in a diary which is the subject of one of her manuscripts currently with publishers.
She said that during her research, she discovered Armitage wrote about the Snow Ghosts – a group of commandos who passed him late one night on their way to raid a German forward post.
“Jim mentioned in his diary about a group of commandos passing him in the night,” Skehan said.
“No name, just a comment, so it was hard to track who the group were.
“Months of research proved fruitless, until on another theme, I researched ghosts, and there was the reference to Ghosts of the Western Snows, all about Dalton Neville and his band of 20 commandos, who had free reign as a unit.
“In camouflage gear, they attacked the forward enemy outposts, bringing back prisoners and paperwork, leaving a chilling nothingness behind, no trace that they had ever been there.
“So feared was he, the enemy thought it was one man, one ghost – that a price of 10,000 marks was offered for his capture.
“Their equipment was deliberately rusted, so that no gleam would give their positions away,” Skehan said.
“Dalton was proud of the fact that he never lost a man in all their raids.
“Trained in stealth warfare, the Snow Ghosts had remarkable adventures in the midst of the chaos that was war in Flanders.”
Dalton reportedly suffered several significant injuries during his four years in Flanders, including a badly fractured leg, which was shattered in three places by a grenade.
According to reports, Neville crawled alone for seven hours before receiving help back at battalion headquarters; later he was awarded many citations for his bravery.
During her research, Skehan said she discovered the Snow Ghost was living in Wamberal in his later years.
Although married three times, he sadly ended his pain by a self-inflicted wound, and was buried in the Anglican section of Wamberal Cemetery in 1969.
She said his story is told via factual newspaper reports from Trove, the National Library archives.
Skehan, who has been a researcher since 1999, said she loves her job.
“I love doing the research, as I never know what stories I will discover,” she said.
“There are many fruitless hours, days, weeks of not finding much of interest, then gems appear, stories find me or I meet someone unexpectedly who puts me on the right track, or has a twist to their story.
“Through Rotary, I also ghost wrote the book, Lest I Forget, for the 93rd Squadron Green Ghosts, a Beaufighter bomber squadron.
“During interviews with the surviving members, I heard so many great stories, but one wife commented, ‘He never told me these things; I’ve never heard them before,’ and ‘I haven’t heard him sound so alive in years’.
“Often the men did not want to burden their families with harrowing tales.”
The Fields of Flanders: The Poppies speak manuscript is currently with Skehan’s publishers and does not yet have a release date, but copies will be released through mainstream publishing outlets.
Maisy Rae