Salute for a treasured hero

As the day approaches, it’s fitting she remembers her father Leo and his three brothers Levi, Henry and Syd Treasure, of Kojonup, who all served in Gallipoli during World War I and were all lucky to make it home.

Mrs Ryan said she felt compelled to contact the Community Newspaper Group after her niece Vicky sent through images and a letter from her father during his time in hospital, wanting to share their story ” a unique and happy one.

‘Dad unfortunately was badly wounded on arrival, he was 25 years of age,’ Mrs Ryan said.

‘He was then shipped to Birmingham Hospital in England where he spent about 15 weeks recovering from his war wounds.’

Mrs Ryan said that in the documentation found, her dad was described as being severely wounded and, as life would have it, he spent the rest of his days recovering from his injury.

‘My niece, Vicky, has been doing a lot of research on the family for the commemoration services later this year and she discovered this letter, written by dad, that was published in the Sunday Times on October 10 1915,’ she said.

The letter, dated August 26 1915, goes on to describe Mr Treasure’s 15-week stay in hospital, in which he describes not wanting for anything.

He also mentions his brother Henry being wounded, the loss of his friends and comrades and how his fighting days ‘are done’.

‘The lucky thing though is that the Treasure brothers, even though they all came back severely wounded, they still came home and went on to raise families,’ she said.

‘He met mum, had seven children, four boys and three girls and of those four boys three went on to serve in World War II, but one did not come back.’

Mrs Ryan will commemorate Anzac Day at the Ballajura Dawn service, a tradition she has kept for years.

‘Anzac Day is an extremely important part of our family history and I just get so teary at Anzac services; I feel very proud but very emotional,’ she said.

‘For me, it is about sitting and thinking about what they went through and being very grateful.’