DIGGER Roy Wild did not speak much about his experiences in World War I, even to his loved ones.
“I know he was in Egypt and was wounded in France, he was gassed twice from what I heard,” said his only son, Peter.
“But he was like a lot of veterans, not a lot wished to talk about it.
“He was a very private man.”
Peter Wild hopes to learn a little more about his dad during a re-enactment of the 1915 Kangaroo March recruitment drive between Wagga and Sydney.
Roy Wild was an original marcher, trudging off with 87 other young men on December 1 after enlisting for the war.
Peter, 76, intends to walk in a re-enactment of the famous march, which will start at Wagga’s Victory Memorial Gardens on September 5 and finish in Campbelltown on October 10.
“I’m going to start the march, but I don’t know how far I will go,” he said.
Peter’s grand-daughter, Jessica Wild, will walk alongside him on September 5 and sit next to him at a Kangaroo March dinner in Canberra on September 19.
Roy Wild and his second cousin and fellow Kangaroo, Sid Keyes, were descendants of George Best, the first European to take up land south of the Murrumbidgee River.
Roy’s cousin, Percy Seckold, was also a Kangaroo.
After returning from war, Roy Wild worked for Wagga City Council and then the Department of Main Roads.
He married Mary Clark in his 40s and they had two children, Peter and Mary.
Roy died in 1968, aged 73.
Peter Wild said he wanted to march in order to honour and remember his father.
“Being a descendant of a Kangaroo marcher I thought it would be a great thing to do,” he said.
