PHOTO: The 515 kilometre march saw the 35 men from Gilgandra grow to 263 recruits.
Spare a thought for what life must have been like for Emma Hitchin. Age 52, with the news of Gallipoli still ringing in her ears Bill, her husband of 25 years and her oldest son head off overseas to fight in the war.
Not long after Bill arrived overseas he contracted influenza and was hospitalised in England. After two agonising months of getting varied correspondence from the hospital about his rapidly changing and often improving condition, Bill eventually deteriorated and died on 3rd September, 1916 in England.
Bill had led the world-renown Coo-ee March from Gilgandra to Sydney in 1915 to enlist more soldiers. The 515 kilometre march saw the 35 men from Gilgandra grow to 263 recruits…