Percy Albert Lane’s memorial plaque in the Lithgow Bowenfels Cemetery commemorates his service in the 2/4 Battalion of the Australian Army.
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What it does not state is that Percy, who was born on April 25, 1919, was the first Lithgow district man to join the AIF when war broke out in 1939.
When the doors of the newly established recruiting depot opened in Lithgow on October 25, 1939, Percy was the first in the queue of potential recruits, having ridden his bicycle from the family home in Blackmans Flat that morning.
Corporal Percy Lane was a member of the first contingent to leave Australia and served in Libya.
An article in the Lithgow Mercury dated June 2, 1941 reported that the Minister for the Army (Mr Spender) has contacted Percy’s mother, Henrietta Lane, the week before to notify her that her son was ‘missing’.
Corporal Lane was later listed as a prisoner of war. Captured by the Germans in Greece, Percy and two of his mates made a daring escape across the paddocks at 11pm one evening and headed towards Turkey, ‘reckoning they would much sooner be interned in Turkey than be a POW’. Assisted by Greek citizens who fed and sheltered them,the three eventually reached safety.
Percy Albert Lane is one of the fifty-one soldiers buried in the Lithgow Bowenfels Cemetery whose service to their country during war will be remembered on April 23, 2017 during the Anzac Cemetery Walk held each year by the Lithgow and District Family History Society.
Members of the public are invited to join the Society members on the walk which starts at 10am in the car park at the cemetery with morning tea.
Society members will provide the ANZAC biscuits but you will need to supply your own tea and coffee.
There will be an informal chat and a welcome from group president Eleanor Martin.
This year the walk will be concentrating on the Memorial Wall/Arms and Rose and Azalea gardens honouring the following:
- Ronald Leo Cowden
- Harry Carter
- Stanley Cecil Bayliss
- Matthew Poland
- Leslie James Bayliss
- John Shorney
- Ian John Goodhew
- Francis Ralph Kiernan
- Cyril Herbert Wallace
- Thomas Marmaduke Rodham
- Harry Hunt
- Robert Martin Dick
- Ian Scott Mitchell
- Athol Patrick Williams
- Percival Gordon Gallagher
- William Burrows Trick
- John Charles Bennett
- Thomas Robert Williams
- William Ernest O’Neil
- Kenneth Howard Connolly
- John Sampson Hine
- Angus Ruxton Denholm
- Kenneth John Burton
- Jack Robb
- Jasper Haslop
- Duncan Turner Matthew
- George Cambourn
- James Furbank
- Maurice Donald Fry
- Charlie Lane
- Derwent Ashley Horton
- Aubrey Lloyd Irwin
- Athol Keith Smith
- Albert Fox Lord
- Alwin George Crook
- Colin Wilton Thompson
- Alfred Richard Anthes
- George James Lansom Dowler
- Ronald William Graham
- John Frederick Kiddle
- Percy Albert Lane
- Douglas Mason
- Edmund John Williams
- Leslie Collins
- Lloyd Carl Sedger
- Robert John Combs
- Victor Clarence Combs
- Norman Roy Bullock
- John Thomas Addison
- Gordon Bell
- Richard Adam Macdonald
The walk will visit each of the fifty-one plaques where a short history of each one will be read out and a poppy and remembrance card placed on each plaque.
If you have any connection with any of the above soldiers you would be most welcome to participate and lay the poppy and card for that loved one or if you would just like to join in for the morning you will be more than welcome.
After the group has visited the fifty-one plaques a wreath will be laid at the ANZAC Memorial Rock and Garden. The garden is located at the top of the cemetery adjacent to the Catholic No 1 section and was placed there in 2015 by Lithgow City Council to mark the centenary of ANZAC.
A short service will be held at the garden as part of the wreath laying.
Please note that if members of the public would like to attend and lay a wreath they are more than welcome to do so after the official wreath has been laid.
