By GARRY HOWE
GALLIPOLI hero Brigadier-General Cecil Henry Foott received one last – and long overdue – decoration in Berwick on Saturday.
Local historians Jane Rivett-Carnac and Lyne McGregor discovered in June last year that Brig-Gen Foott, who had lived in Upper Beaconsfield, had been lying in the Berwick Cemetery for more than 70 years with no headstone.
Members of the Narre Warren and District Family History Group, the Berwick RSL and the Berwick and Harkaway Cemeteries Trust agreed that was not right – particularly in the lead-up to next week’s Anzac Centenary celebrations.
So they set about rectifying it – and with a bit of pomp and ceremony on Saturday a new headstone was unveiled.
Casey’s Mayor Mick Morland noted the irony around the fact that former Test cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud’s family had been offered a state funeral, yet Brig-Gen Foott had not even had a headstone.
He said no offence was meant to Mr Benaud and his family, but the state funeral offer (since refused) did help bring home the significance of the Berwick Cemetery event.
“Twenty years ago you would get two men and a dog to the Anzac ceremony in Berwick,” Cr Morland said.
“Now there are thousands and you can’t get a park. That’s because of the pride we have in our Anzacs.
“I can tell you if Brigadier-General Foott had have died today, he would not have been forgotten.”
Cr Morland congratulated the family history group, the Berwick RSL, the cemeteries trust and Cameo Memorials, which generously donated the headstone, for the work they had done on the joint project.
Chris McKenna from the Berwick RSL compered the service and his sub-branch colleague George Nicolson read The Ode.
Mr McKenna borrowed a phrase: “You all die twice – once when you stop breathing and a second time when someone says your name for the last time”.
He said numerous people over the years would have passed over the grave site and wondered if it was reserved, or whether there was someone there.
“Well, as of today, anyone who passes by this site will know who is here and something of his history,” he said.
“The name Cecil Henry Foott shall continue to be spoken for many, many years into the future.”
Family history group vice-president Steven Smith then gave an outline of the Brigadier-General’s war service and personal life.
Brig-Gen Foott served at Gallipoli, then in France, where his only brother Private Arthur Patrick Foott was killed in action. He was mentioned in dispatches seven times and was awarded the Serbian Order of the White Eagle (fourth class) in 1916.
After the war he worked closely with General (Sir) John Monash in the AIF’s Department of Repatriation and Demobilisation, helping soldiers assimilate back into civilian life.
A resident of Upper Beaconsfield, he was active in the Berwick Masonic Lodge and served as president of the Berwick RSL in the late 1930s.
* Don’t miss next week’s special Anzac Centenary commemorative edition of the Gazette for a more detailed account of Brig-Gen Foott’s life.
