William Stettler in the Aust. National Archives

  Recently we decided to head to Canberra to see a fabulous art exhibition that included Van Gogh's Sunflowers.  What a fabulous painting it is, it illuminates the room!  At the same time I wanted to find out why William Stettler was court marshalled in WW2.

So while in Canberra I wanted to have a look at some records at the National Archives of Australia that have not yet been digitised.  Some time ago I found my 1st cousin, twice removed, William Stettler in the Archives in WW2, but like most WW2 records they had not been digitised, in fact, this record was closed as it had not yet been examined (read).  So how did I get the record?

First step was to copy all the information into my OneNote file for the NAA.  That is where I keep information I need to follow up, there is a page for the NSW Archives, NSW Library, Find my past etc.  It's a critical list for me as I would lose them otherewise.  There are lots of programs you can use to keep this information, even a Word document would do.

Then I went back to the record online and followed these steps;

1. Login
2. Click on <Request a copy>
3. Click on <submit an application for access>
4. Follow the application process.

I received an email to say the request had been logged, and a month or so later I had another email stating the file had been read and was now open.  Note OPEN  not DIGITISED.  So that meant I had to go to the Archives and view them.  Once I knew I was going to be in Canberra I followed the process to give at least 5 days notice and have the files pulled out for me.  They were waiting for me when I arrived.

I was quite aprehensive about them as these files concerned a court marshall in 1941.  What had William done?  Had he deserted or worse?  William was the son of Isabella Stettler and  (possibly) William (unknown).  Isabella was 31 years old at the time, but does not appear to have ever married, and who William's father is I do not know.  I have not yet found a birth certificate or baptism.  The only information about William's birth comes from his WW2 Attestation - and he may have lied as many did about his age.  I may find his birth in a few years once more become available.  Certainly he was not registed in 1919 or 1920.

Whenever I have examined files held at Archives I have found a gem, this was no different.  William was charged with "When on active service conduct to prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he made a disturbance in the Diana Caberet in Alexandria at 0130 hrs on 29th March 1941 by fighting with Australian soldiers in the said Diana Cabaret."  That made me laugh, here they were in the middle of a war and he was charged with a bar brawl and court marshalled no less.  Here is a photo of the charge sheet:

This led me to a search for photos of Alexandria in Egypt around 1919, here are some I found on the NAA site:

TITLE:[Historical - Events - Alexandria, Egypt - Anzac fifty years ago, ANZAC troops in 1915, embarking from Alexandria in Egypt for the island of Lemnos, before their landing at Gallipoli Peninsula] 

CATEGORY: Photograph 

PRINCIPAL CREDIT: Australian News and Information Bureau FORMAT: b&w negative TYPE: cellulose acetate

TITLE ; Egypt general views HMAS Sydney det [FP988 - Alexandria Harbour, Egypt - 8085-11]

Reading through the NAA file the evidence for the prosecution came from MP's who arrested William.  They testified that they though (not seen) he was drunk and had started a fight, and when they went to arrest him he hid behind some chairs and then became injured when he tried to escape.  William's mates testified that William and two of them had gone over to stop a fight when the MP's hit William with their rifle but and knocked him to the ground and injured him.  They took him to the brig and some time later called the doctor.

What really happened?  Probably something in between the two accounts, but it was nice to see that three of William's mates from his regiment (2/7th Btl) testified on his behalf.

He was found not guilty.

I found this photo on Wikipedia of some members of William's battalion.

Members of the 2/7th Battalion with a Bren carrier in October 1940

I know nothing else about William Stettler, he does not appear anywhere I have searched, but i hope more may come to light about him when later records are realeased.

While I was at the NAA I had some other files pulled so I could look through them and found two photos of my more distant ancestors - a bonus.