The Catholic Weekly 30 August 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 3 30, August, 2020 PRAYER AND faith is the wis- dom that 100-year-old WWII veteran and parishioner of St Bernadette’s Parish Castle Hill, Mr Dennis Davis, is giving to everyone during the tribula- tions of COVID-19. It was these that sustained Mr Davis, who served in the highly decorated 9th Division of the Second Australian Im- perial Force, through some of the most gruelling battles of the Second World War - in- cluding the infamous Siege of Tobruk. “I carried my rosary beads with me all the time, always in my right hand pocket through- out the Siege of Tobruk and throughout the whole war - every day of my life,” he said. Mr Davis is one of the last living Rats of Tobruk. The stubborn defence by the Aus- tralians earned them the de- rision of the Nazi propaganda machine calling them ‘rats’ in hiding holes - a name the la- conic Australians adopted for themselves with pride. For 269 days in Tobruk, the outnumbered and out-gunned Australians stubbornly held off the-then undefeated Germans under Rommel’s elite Afrika Korps for a gruelling 269 days in the Libyan desert. “My first experience of be- ing shot at was when a Ger- man Stuka had come through and dropped its bombs. The plane strafed us and fortunate- ly me and my best mate dived for cover.” Mr Davis recalled the faith life of himself and his com- rades throughout the ordeal to The Catholic Weekly . “Most of the men believed in the hereafter and when you were in a dangerous situation - that’s in your mind all the time. I prayed every day that I would live through the night, and every night that I would live through the day - it was a struggle but God was good to me. I was blessed.” Born in London to an Eng- lish father and Alsatian French mother, Mr Davis, his parents, and his two sisters emigrated to Sydney in 1938 at the end of the Great Depression. While the Depression was Encircled by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, the Rosary and St Therese kept Aussie going ¾ ¾ David Ryan Faith, love always first for Tobruk Rat waning, a terrible war was looming on the horizon. Mr Davis, like most young men of his generation, took up the call to defend the country. Aside from Tobruk in North Africa, Mr Davis served with the 9th Division in Syria-Leba- non, New Guinea, Borneo and the two battles of El Alamein - turning in his prayers to the intercession from St Therese of Lisieux. “Saint Therese of the Child Jesus was always a Saint very Dennis Davis, now 100, gestures during an interview with The Catholic Weekly . The handsome young soldier, inset, in 1940. close to my heart throughout the war. My first daughter was named Maureen Therese,” Mr David said Thousands of soldiers in World Wars I and II were de- voted to the popular saint. Providence not only guided Mr Davis safely through battles across the world but also in the battle of his heart for his future wife Margaret - a battle which raged on the home front when she broke off their engage- ment. “We were separated for two and a half years and I received a ‘Dear John’ letter saying she was planning to break off the engagement - that really broke my heart. “I then received a letter from my mother telling me that Mar- garet was getting married to someone else in March. I was praying that I could get home as soon as I could beforeMarch.” With the onslaught of the Japanese offensive in the Pacif- ic, Australian troops, including Mr Davis, were recalled to the home front. It gave Mr Davis andMargaret an opportunity to reconcile. “I arrived in Sydney on 28 February - a Saturday night - and we got back to camp at 11 o’clock at night. I had about two hours of sleep and then I got up and went to Mass on Sunday morning.” Mr Davis then rang Margaret letting her knowof his love. “There was only one chance and I said ‘I love you’ and put the receiver down so she didn’t even get the chance to reply.” The next day they met and were reconciledwhenMrDavid Looking for a new Job? www.catholicjobsonline.com.au visitedher family home inCarl- ton. “She was lying in bed after an asthma attack. I got to her room, stood there and did not know what to do. She put her arms out to me and we hugged and kissed. “The following Saturday we weremarried in a nuptial Mass. This was during rationing so we needed a supply of coupons to pay for the cake.” Mr Davis and Margaret were blessed with two children, seven grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren and after 61 years of marriage, Margaret passed into eternal life in 2004. Despite the COVID-19 pan- demic Dennis walks one kilo- metre everymorning toMass at St Bernadette’s. With a century of life behind him, Mr Davis gave words of encouragement to all to keep their faith during tough times - especially to young Catholics who are pressured towalk away fromthe faith. “It is hard during this pan- demic. Keep up the good work. Life is very short and eternity is very long. We’re living through tough times. Focus on eternity.” Through thick and thin: the beginning of 61 years of happy mar- riage - Dennis and Margaret on their wedding day in 1943. In brief Belgian baptisms shoot up Prayer for persecuted Another mosque CATHOBEL, THEwebsite of the Catholic Church in Belgium has reported a significant rise in the number of adult baptisms celebrated. The site reported that there would be an esti- mated total of 305 adult baptisms in 2020, a 500 per cent increase from the 61 performed in 2019. While the majority of Belgium’s 11.5 million population are baptised Catholics, Sunday Mass attendance is below sev- en per cent. POPE FRANCIS recalled the International Day of the Victims of Acts of Vi- olence Based on Religion or Belief at last Sunday’s Angelus address. “Let us pray for these, our brothers and sisters, and let us sustain them with our prayer and soli- darity, even those who to- day are persecuted - and there are many - because of their faith and religion,” he said. The Pope has said fre- quently since his elec- tion that “the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries.” TURKISH PRESIDENT RecepTayyipErdoganhas given the order to trans- form the Kariye Camii museum, also known as the Monastery of the Holy Saviour in Chora, into a mosque. The order was based on a State Council decision which stated that using the building as a museum was “against the law.” The Conversion of the monastery, which was built in 534 AD during the early Byzantine period and turned into a mosque in 1511, comes just months after the conver- sion of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral into a mosque. NEWS