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Western Mail, 4 July 1929, p. 2
"The Man With the Donkey."
According to the May 31 issue of the "Reveille," the official organ of the League in New South Wales, General Brand has stated that the "greatest hero on Anzac was James Kirkpatrick, who was known as "the Bloke with the Donk!" It is further stated that Kirkpatrick was a native of South Shields (England) and joined up in Queensland with the 3rd Field Ambulance.
We, in this State, have always understood that the Man with the Donkey was Private W. Simpson (otherwise John Simpson Kirkpatrick), of the 3rd Field Ambulance, Western Australia. In the Soldiers' Institute, Perth, there is a framed photograph of the Man with the Donkey, and an account of their truly great deeds. It states that the partnership began on the second day of the Anzac occupation. The Man had carried two heavy men in succession down the awful slopes of Shrapnel Gully, and through the Valley of Death. He saw thc donkey, a little mouse-coloured animal, no taller than a Newfoundland dog. His eye lit up. "I'll take this chap with me on the next trip." He called him Abdul ("Reveille" and Bean say "Duffy") and from that time the pair were inseparable. They were given a roving commission. Thc Man knew every twist and slope on Anzac. Abdul was a patient, sure-footed ally, with a capacity for hearing loads out of all proportion to his size. Every trip saw them face the terrors of Turkish snipers, hidden on Dead Man's Ridge. When the fire was at its worst and orders were posted that ambulance men must keep under cover, thc Man and the Donkey went placidly on their way. On arriving at tho casualty - ofttimes the Man had to bring them in under fire - and rendering any necessary first-aid, the Man would balance the limp form on the Donkey, and they would make for the beach. No one kept count, but the two kept continuously at it, and the number they handled must have run into hundreds. Then came a morning when the Donkey returned alone. A Turkish bullet had found its billet in thc heart of a very brave man. There was a hush even in the trenches that night when the news went round. His grave bore the inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Private W. Simpson, of the 3rd Field Ambulance, Western Australia."
Many of us in the West have proudly claimed the Mau with tho Donk as our very own - as one who enlisted here. According to the "Reveille" he did not.
Does anyone know?