Lecky, Edmund (Ted) Crawford (Major, MBE, d.1981)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of NX5720 Major Edmund (Ted) Crawford Lecky MBE. He served with 9th Australian Division Signals in the Middle East as a 'Rat of Trobruk' and later in the Pacific region including New Guinea. Primarily consists of 187 original letters written by Lecky to his parents and a few extended family members. The letters date from just prior to his enlistment in July 1940 and finish in 1946 after his return to Australia; majority written during 1940 to 1942. Lecky writes regularly, providing much descriptive detail of his everyday wartime experiences, including mentions of his many mates such as NX30912 Corporal Brian Stewart Roberts of 2/18 Battalion AIF who died of illness as a prisoner of war of the Japanese in December 1943. Lecky only learnt of Roberts' death after the war and writes of this in a letter to his parents dated 2 October 1945. Also included in the collection are two black and white photocopies of a short obituary published after Lecky's death in 1981, and one page of handwritten notes titled 'Entraining'. In 1945 Lecky was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for 'most efficient devotion to duty at Finschhafen', in particular his work in charge of communications. Additional letters were added to this collection in August 2013.