RAA LIAISON LETTER 2025 – 2026 EDITION CANNONBALL SUPPLEMENT 113 (Photo above: The Garrison Crew of the infamous first shot) In July 1915, aboard The Orsova, Bill set sail as part of the 36th Heavy Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Force (AIF), bound for service on the Western Front. He now wore the uniform of a gunner in the AIF. In early 1917, while acting as a linesman, Bill’s officer, Captain Percy Walter Dobson MC, left him with strict instructions: if the phone lines went down, he was not to go out and repair them—it was too dangerous. In Dobson’s diary, he recalled the day: “I left Carlin at the tap in with instructions that if the line went, we’d mend it from our end, as the Hun would strafe that point every day. Sure enough, the line went. Harper was with me and wanted to go out to mend it. I told him to wait until the strafing had stopped - we could see and hear the shells bursting. Next thing, Harper got a buzz on the phone showing it was through, and it wasn’t till a little later, old Carlin’s head appeared at the parade, beaded with sweat and much wind up. I strafed him for coming out when he was told to stay in. His reply was, ‘I thought the O.P. was getting it and thought someone might be hit.’ That didn’t prevent him stopping to mend the line amongst the 5.9.”, (a ‘five nine’ was how the lethal German 150mm artillery rounds were referred to by the Allies.) Later that year, Bill Carlin was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty… having performed good and valuable work throughout, particularly during operations when he acted as a linesman." I’m filled with awe at the recognition he received—such a prestigious honour. But as I mentioned earlier, it’s not the awards or accolades that have shaped my admiration for Bill. It’s the smaller, more personal moments— those unexpected glimpses of character that stay with you. One of these such glimpses can be found in Bill’s wartime nickname – ‘Windy Bill’!! Certainly, one given in jest, yet one that has come to be very meaningful to our family. It offers a small but telling window into the man behind the uniform, and the quiet, determined kind of courage he carried. It reminds me that bravery doesn’t always look bold or fearless. Sometimes, it’s hesitant. Sometimes, it’s quiet. Sometimes, it’s ‘beaded with sweat’ with ‘much wind up’!! We find his nickname revealed in another diary entry by his officer: “His nickname is ‘Windy Bill’. I didn’t know Carlin too well in those days, but later I came to the conclusion that he is the bravest man I have met, and one of the ‘windiest’. The man who is not windy cannot be brave, but the man who does his job at all times, and under all conditions, and with the wind up all the time, is the man I admire.” Although Bill made it home safely in 1919, he returned with serious damage to his lungs after being gassed on the front. The effects of this would stay with him for the rest of his life, ultimately contributing to his relatively early death. In 1921, he married my grandmother, Margaret Alphonsus Ryan, and together they settled on a Soldier Settlement block near Hawkesdale which they called Minadong —part of the Woodlands Estate. They had three children, the youngest of whom was my mother, Fonce. It’s through Fonce that Bill’s legacy has had such a profound impact on my family. Mum often spoke of her father with deep reverence and awe. She made no secret of the fact that she tried to live her life by the philosophy of her beloved Dad, Bill. And I can’t begin to count how many times in my own life Mum would invoke one of his sayings or guiding principles to help me through a challenge.
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