One hundred years ago, when Mr Parish’s grandfather departed from Sydney on the HMAT Themistocles on October5, 1915, his tour of duty included travel from Egypt to France and Belgium, a stint in hospitals in England and France, involvement in a mutiny and time in prison.

Eric Charles Parish was only 18 years and nine months old when he enlisted in the AIF on the July 11, 1915, and had to obtain permission from his father to do so.

“At that stage you had to be 21 to join up,” Mr Parish said. “But with a written letter of permission from their parents, they were allowed to join.”

Eric Parish had tried to join up earlier, but he was deemed to be too short.

“In June 1915 they changed the height restrictions from five foot six inches to five foot two inches,” Mr Parish said.

Eric Parish’s tour followed a familiar path, but included a gunshot wound to the leg in Fleurbaix in June 1916, followed by a period of convalescence in England.

“He was in Salisbury Plain, not far from Stonehenge, and went AWOL for 10 days,” he said. “Apparently he went sightseeing.”

In November 1916 Eric Parish rejoined the battalion at Demicourt, Bullecourt and continued on until 1917 when he was wounded at Ypres in Belgium.

After a brief furlough in England, where his age was brought to mention, Eric Parish suffered from a series of health issues and spent most of 1918 being transferred from hospital to hospital in France, before recovering fully and rejoining the 1st Battalion.

On of September 21,  1918 Eric Parish was involved in a mutiny during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line. 

A belief that they were doing more than their fair share of the fighting seemed to be the main reason for what was known as a “soldiers strike”.

“What happened there is open to interpretation,” Mr Parish said. 

“But considering that the mutineers had the Australian general on their side, it would seem that is why.”

In October 1918 Eric Parish and 18 others were court martialled and sent to prison in England. On the April 25, 1919 his prison sentence was suspended and the mutineers were sent home.

All of these details only came to light when Mr Parish’s cousin was doing some family research as well.

“My grandfather’s children all knew about it, including my late mother and father,” Mr Parish said.

“But it was never spoken about, it was a real cultural mindset where you don’t burden people with those kind’s of details.”