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Melbourne Argus, 20 January 1950, p. 3.
Boer war bugler hero - now 65 - in hospital
SYDNEY, Thurs: John Francis Dunne, boy bugler hero of the Boer War battle of Colenso, was admitted to a Sydney hospital this week.
School history books for years have told the story of his bravery in battle at the age of 15, and how Queen Victoria rewarded him with a silver bugle.
His gallantry is a byword among Boer War veterans.
Lying in his hospital bed, silver-haired and bespectacled Mr. Dunne recalled the campaign.
"We were fighting to cross the Tulega River and relieve Ladysmith, and the Boers were giving us a lathering.
"I got the order to sound the advance - never play the retreat in the British Army, you know. Learn it, but never play it.
"A Boer bullet went through my right arm and hurled my bugle from me. Simultaneously a piece of shrapnel struck my chest.
"I staggered to my feet, picked up my bugle with my left arm, and finished sounding the advance.
"We crossed the river with heavy casualties, but took Ladysmith."
Mr. Dunne said he was carried from the battlefield on a stretcher, and invalided to a hospital in England.
"Queen Victoria sent for me when I recovered," he said. "I was taken to the Isle of Wight in the Royal yacht to see her. She was very kind to me, and presented me with the bugle."
Mr. Dunne said the bugle was stolen from him while he was in the Army in England three years later. "I'd previously refused to sell it to Madame Tussaud's for £3,000 - a lot of money in those days."
Mr. Dunne came to Australia with his family in 1925. For 40 years he was a ship's steward.