NASMITH, David Struan (1882-1953)
David Struan Nasmith was born on 1 January 1882, the son of David Nasmith and Elizabeth Adeline nee Robertson, of Nargoora, Gnarkeet. He was enrolled at Geelong College as a boarder in 1896 and probaly finished in 1898. His address at the time of entry was 92 Queene (sic) St, Melbourne. The Enrolment Register cites his birth date as 1 January 1882 however his birth registration is listed with those of 1881. He was a member of the College 1st Football Teams of 1896, 1897 and 1898 and a member of the 1st Cricket XI in 1897 and 1898.
He spent time at Berry Bank with the Mack boys (OGC), working there and at his own property, after leaving Geelong College. He enlisted (No 6983) in the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, AIF on 27 July 1915, and embarked with 4th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) as a Gunner on HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 18 November 1915. He served in Egypt where he transferred to 19th Battery, 22 Field Artillery Brigade, on 8 March 1916, and embarked for France.
Pegasus of August 1916 noted his service in France:
'D S Nasmith, from France, 28th April (1916), in the firing line, sends remembrances to Old Boys. During a terrific bombardment, after forty-eight shells had burst over and around them, he discovered his writing pad, on which he had been writing a letter, riddled by shrapnel which had gone through the ninety sheets of paper, one of which carried the marks as well as his news. A nice curio for the school museum! He had seen Jack Salmon, Merton Stodart and N Dougall.'
He wrote to the Berry Bank people shortly after his arrival in France:
'Have been at our observation post observing lately and had great sport one day, had one of our guns trained on to a point where there is a good deal of vitality during the day, a place which up to the present has been left alone, the gun ranged onto the target in the morning and while doing so must have cut one of the Hun’s telephone wires, so out comes a chap hunting about in the long grass for the break, we telephoned up the battery and a shell went fairly close to him, at all events it made him scoot, about an hour later we spotted a four horse wagon a bit lower down the hill and sent over four more, one burst just behind the vehicle and off went the team hell for leather, did not get ’em but gav ’em hurry up. Since then they have been trying very hard to locate us, have had their observation balloon up watching for our flashes and aeroplanes flying overhead. Yesterday we opened out on an anti-aircraft position while the sausage was up and the observer must have caught sight of our flash, so at 5 pm just as we were cooking our tea, eggs and bacon, shells began to burst in front of our gun pits about 200 yards short, thought we were to spend the night in a new home but thank goodness they began to lower their range instead of raise it, their line was alright, the cove evidently thought we were in an orchard a good 500 yards in front, one does not want to run risks when their sausage is up, two batteries have been shelled out close to us for doing so. We are to have a busy night tonight, a big raid on the trenches, each gun to fire close on 200 rounds. . . . The NZ troops made a raid the other night on a small part of the sector, killed fifty or more and took one prisoner, sent him through the town with a guard of two men but the women of the town rushed out and nearly killed him, he is not much use now for getting information out of, that’s all we want prisoners for these days, expect to capture a few tonight though.'
He wrote again on 2 January 1917:
'Well another year has come around but poor old Fergie¹ has gone. Fritz gave us a rough handling on the last day of the old year especially down at our end of the position, it was so warm that we were ordered to go to the other end, about 100 yards away, well we escaped any harm ’till 4.30 pm when a shell lobbed fair on top of a dugout in which were Fergie and four others², they were drawing rations and talking and joking. We all rushed across to render assistance and dig them out, but nothing could be done to help them. The shell went fair through the roof and burst amongst them, the result being that they were all practically blown to pieces. I searched amongst the debris for Fergie’s belongings, but could find nothing at all. On New Year’s Day all were duly buried where they were killed and we have raised a mound of earth to mark the spot where my dear old pal lies, the only consolation was that none of them suffered any pain. Well we were all pretty much shaken on account of our loss and I do not mind admitting that Fritz had the wind properly up the lot of us. No other casualties occurred though one party had a very narrow escape, the shell just grazing the edge of their dugout and bursting deep down in the clay. You can imagine I did not spend a very happy New Year’s Day but we had our revenge by shooting on Fritz’s front line trenches for an hour, six guns at one round per gun per minute so he received 360 shells in the hour, all guns in the rear of us were on them except the 9 in. so no doubt some damage was done. The major has offered 100 francs to the battery that can knock out the battery that did the damage so no doubt its days are numbered, I would like to be the one to pull the lever. We live like rabbits here in small dugouts each holding about two men. Chats are very bad and darned near drive us balmy.'
Nasmith returned to 11th Battery, 4 Field Artillery Brigade early in 1917, being promoted Sergeant on 4 October 1917. He then transferred to Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery, Heytesbury on 1 January 1918, where he attended a ‘course of instruction in defensive measures against gas’ at No 1 Area Gas School, Chisledon in the first week of February, and qualified 1st Class. He rejoined his unit on 1 August in France, and was wounded in action on 30 September. He returned to Australia, embarking on 27 April 1919 on HT Runic.
His brief obituary in Pegasus of December 1953 stated: David Struan Nasmith who died at Caulfield on November 10 (1953), aged 71 years,attended the College in the closing years of the last century. He was in the first cricket and football teams. In the 1914-18 war he served with the first AIF.'
David's sister, Frances Adaline Nasmith, was the mother of renowned footballer and first VFL Brownlow Medal winner 'Carji' Greeves who also attended Geelong College.
¹Bdr Hamilton Cleophane Ferguson, born at Wodonga, the son of Daniel and Ada Eliza Ferguson, of Caulfield, 22 FAB, killed in action at Ginchy on 31 December 1916, Old Scotch Collegian, farmed at Duverny, near Cressy, Victoria, he was a friend of the Mack brothers. According to his ‘Particulars Required for the Roll of Honour of Australia in the Memorial War Museum’, an entry in his diary stated 'Inspected by Kitchener, his address was ‘Well boys I am glad to welcome you in France. If you uphold your reputation gained on Gallipoli, you will be liked by everyone but the Germans’. 'Fergie' was buried in Guard’s Cemetery, Les Boeufs, France – Grave VI.Q.6.
²Sgt Percy John Coupar, of Traralgon and Camberwell; Gnr Charles de Burgh Hogg, of Surrey Hills; Gnr Reginald Graham Lindsay, of Creswick; and Gnr George Albion Cowley, of Camperdown, all buried in the Guards’ Cemetery, Les Bouefs, France.
Sources: Pegasus December 1953 p47; Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. pp 273-274 (citing Pegasus; National Archives).