Ask anyone in the New Zealand music industry “do you know who Malcolm Anderson McCauley is?“ and you will probably be met with a quizzical stare and “who?” But ask anyone in the country music industry the same question, you will most likely get a response something like “.. oh, you mean Max McCauley, the Yodelling Cowboy! ” Not being a follower of country music, I had the pleasure of chatting with Max on several occasions by phone during this case, and getting to know something of his work. My self-introduction to Max McCauley came about as a result of a phone call I received last year from Valerie of Oamaru.
Valerie Orme has been widowed for more than two decades since her husband Desmond Francis “Des” Orme passed away in 2002. When Des’s uncle Cyril Orme died in 2012, in so doing he had outlived his wife Caroline (Carol) and both his older brother Ian Orme (Des’s father) and nephew Des.
At some point prior to Des’s death Cyril had given him a set of four medals**, some memorabilia and photos of a man who by Cyril’s own admission he had never personally met, although Private Eric Francis McCauley and Cyril had served in the same battalion during WW2.
When Des died, his wife Valerie inherited the medals but without any instructions regarding as to what she should do with them and so they stayed in a draw for the next couple of decades. Some years later Cyril had also given Valerie a number of additional photos that related to Hec McCauley’s family that he said had belonged to Cyril’s late wife Carol, as he was concerned they might be thrown away.
After more than twenty years in her safe keeping, Valerie now in her late 80s and ever mindful that time was marching on and she not getting any younger, had always wanted to find a McCauley descendant to return the medals and photographs to but had been unsure how to go about it and so, as we all do, kept putting it off. That was until Valerie came across a magazine article about the work of Medals Reunited New Zealand.
Valerie telephoned me seeking help to find Eric McCauley’s descendants. One of the postcards (above) in particular intrigued Valerie which was postmarked “Napoli” and in Hec McCauley’s handwriting said, “An Italian prisoner gave me this Card, Love Hec.” Apparently written to a wife, girlfriend or family?
Always happy to oblige, the medals together with a sample of the photographs duly arrived at MRNZ. The immediate question for me was how did Cyril Orme come to be in possession of the medals and photographs of a man he never knew? To better understand the dynamics of how the connection between Hec McCauley and Cyril Orme came about, I began my research with each of the men and their families to find the answers.
Note ** Pte. Hec McCauley’s WW2 medals were un-named as issued. All WW2 campaign medals issued by New Zealand and the UK were un-named, unlike all other countries of the Empire who named their medals before issue.
Who (the heck) was “Hec” McCAULEY ?
The McCauley family of Southland had their origins in Ireland. James McCauley from Donegal and his wife Bridget (nee Patterson) from Fogarty, left Glasgow aboard the Pomona and arrived at Bluff in April 1876. Their only child of 11 months, Mary Maria, died on board the ship a month out from Glasgow. After five years in Invercargill, James, Bridget and their then two children moved to Nevis near Cromwell in Central Otago where the third of ten eventual children was born.
Robert John “Bob” McCAULEY (1881-1980) was born at Nevis. A Labourer, Trapper and later Station Manager, Bob McCauley married his Wellington born wife Alice Maude ANDERSON (1883-1953) and together they had a family of ten children born variously at Nevis and Cromwell. The two youngest were Bob and Alice’s sons Gordon Alexander “Alex” McCauley (b:1908, Nevis) and Eric Francis “Hec” McCauley (b:1910, Nevis). Gordon McCauley became Malcolm Anderson “Max” McCauley’s father.
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The McCauley boys grew up in rural Central Otago and Southland working at various manual and agricultural pursuits as Labourers, Shepherds, Shearers, Trappers and Rabbiters while residing in country towns such as Lumsden and Mossburn. Max McCauley’s father Gordon, a Shearer and Farmer, was almost two years older than his brother Hec (Eric Francis) McCauley. Prior to WW2 Hec was employed as a Rabbiter on the Burwood Station at Mossburn.
Invercargill being the nearest major city, Hec routinely spent time there for supplies, equipment and occasional entertainment. While in town, Hec McCauley had met Caroline Kate “Carol” RYAN (1906-2003) from Orepuki, Southland who prior to WW2 was working at the Club Hotel in Invercargill. In 1935, four years before the outbreak of World War 2, Hec (24) and Carol (27) were married in Invercargill. Following their marriage, Carol quit her job at the hotel and moved out to Burwood Station at Mossburn with Hec.
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World at war
On 6 Sep 1939, the NZ Cabinet approved a force of 6,600 men for a Special Force for use within or outside New Zealand with national registration of all men aged 19-60. Those who initially volunteered for military service were able to select which arm of service they wished to join. By June 1940 nearly 60,000 volunteers had signed up but then the volunteers began to dry up. As a result, national conscription was introduced in June 1940 and voluntary service selection ceased in July 1940. A ballot system of regular call-ups was introduced. Those aged 21–40 were liable to be sent overseas, with those aged 19–46 becoming available for home service in the Territorial Force. By December 1941, all available single men had been balloted. The process then moved on to married men, who were all balloted by the end of 1942, followed by repeated sifting of those men who had initially been granted exemption.
The threat posed by Japan’s advances throughout the Pacific, combined with growing manpower shortages, meant 1942 was also the year in which conscription was extended to compass civil defence duties and labour direction. Eventually, all men aged 18–60, and all women aged 18–40 who were not caring for young children, became eligible for some form of conscription.
When war was declared, NZ committed an Infantry Division (three battalions plus support elements) to the British Eighth Army in North Africa, under the command of Major-General Bernard Freyberg, VC.
8368 Private Eric Francis “Hec” McCAULEY
While brothers Gordon and Hec McCauley were both eligible by age, both were also married however Gordon had children whilst Hec did not. Hec also had a territorial service background with the 5th Mounted Rifles (Otago Hussars) and accordingly volunteered for service with the First Echelon. Gordon was later balloted for service in June 1942 however was not called-up before the war ended.
In September 1939 when the recruiting offices opened for volunteers to serve in the 2nd New Zealand Division (2NZDiv) overseas, Private McCauley (30) was one of the 6,600 volunteers to join the First Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). Hec had joined the Infantry as a Rifleman and assigned to ‘B’ Company of the 20th (Canterbury Otago) Battalion. It was the last of the three infantry battalions (18th, 19th and 20th) designated for inclusion in the First Echelon of New Zealand’s contribution to the British 8th Army in North Africa.
8279 Private Cyril Walter Hebbend ORME
In 1905, Francis Alexander “Alex” ORME (1880-1949) of Christchurch was a Labourer living in Invercargill, residing at the Victoria Hotel when he married Mary Anne Hebbend (1878-1929) in 1909. Alex Orme and Mary Anne had six children, four girls and two sons, Ian Miro Desmond “Mick” Orme (1911-1963) and Cyril Walter Hebbend Orme (1917-2012).
At the time World War 2 broke out in 1939, Cyril Orme was working as a Shop Assistant in Invercargill and living at 65 Jenkins Street. Cyril was 25 years of age when he enlisted in the 20th (Canterbury Otago) Battalion and like Pte. Hec McCauley also sailed with the First Echelon in Jan 1940.
20th (NZ) Battalion
The 2nd NZ Division’s 20th Battalion had been raised at Burnham Military Camp on 6 October 1939 under command of Lt-Col Howard Kippenberger. The newly raised battalion spent the next three months training in basic infantry and military skills before embarking onto the SS Dunera on 5 January 1940. Launched in 1937 as a passenger liner the Dunera had been and was taken over by the Royal Navy as a troopship before hostilities started. She was in the process of delivering troops to the Middle East when the crew heard on 3 Sep 1939 that war was declared. Departing for Egypt from Lyttelton on 6 Jan 1940, the Dunera arrived at Alexandria on 12 Feb 1940. Two days later the battalion marched into the 2NZ Div’s training depot at Maadi. The camp was about 10 kilometers south of Cairo.
Greece
The British Government had anticipated an invasion of Greece by the Germans in 1941 and decided to send troops to support the Greeks. The 2nd New Zealand Division was one of a number of Allied units dispatched to Greece in early March. The 4th Infantry Brigade was tasked with the defence of the Aliakmon Line in northern Greece, with the 20th Battalion preparing and manning the defences along the western end of the line. On 6 April, the Germans invaded Greece. The German advance was so rapid that it quickly threatened the Florina Gap. The 4th Infantry Brigade was withdrawn to the Servia Pass where it manned defences that were superior to its previous positions. On 14 April, German forces reached the Servia Pass and the brigade defended its positions for three days before being withdrawn. The battalion became the rearguard of the brigade for most of its withdrawal until it was evacuated to Crete on 28 April.
Some personnel of the battalion at a reinforcement depot in Athens ended up at the port of Kalamata, in the southwest of the country. These soldiers, along with other reinforcements, were integrated into an ad hoc battalion. One of them, Sergeant Jack Hinton, was instrumental in clearing a wharf at Kalamata that had been captured by advance elements of the 5th Panzer Division. He was later awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions during this engagement, during which he was wounded and, along with most of the other personnel involved, was made a prisoner of war.
By the end of the campaign in Greece, the 20th Battalion had lost 24 men Killed in Action or Died of Wounds; 80 others were made Prisoners of War.
Crete
On Crete, the 20th Battalion was detached from the 4th Infantry Brigade to form part of a new ad hoc 10th Infantry Brigade, under the command of Kippenberger. On 20 May 1941, landing of German airborne troops on Maleme airfield signaling the start of the invasion of Crete. The battalion was positioned to the east of the town of Galatas where it was watching the coast due to the risk of a seaborne invasion. On 20 May 1941, German airborne troops began landing on Maleme airfield signalling the start of the invasion of Crete. The late arrival of its relief meant the battalion was late to its starting position. The counter attack was unsuccessful and resulted in heavy casualties, although not as high as the Germans’ own losses. It also resulted in an award of a VC to Lieutenant Charles Upham (C Company) for his actions during the attack on Maleme airfield.
When Galatas fell to the Germans on 25 May, the 20th Battalion was in danger of being cut off. It successfully regrouped and assisted in the recapture of the town. The battalion withdrew on 26 May, which marked the beginning a retreat to Sfakion, on the south-west coast of Crete. On arrival at the evacuation beaches, it was found that there was insufficient room on the Australian destroyers that were the designated transport for all of the battalion’s personnel. The bulk of the battalion was evacuated on 30 May although Kippenberger was forced to select 40 men to stay behind and form a rearguard. After manning defensive positions to prevent Germans infiltrating the cordon around the evacuation beaches, the rearguard was evacuated the following day.
The battalion lost 80 soldiers Killed in Action or died of wounds on Crete; nearly 90 were made Prisoners of War.
North Africa
The 20th Battalion was evacuated to Egypt, having lost over half its original complement of personnel during the Greece and Crete campaigns. After a short period of rest, Kippenberger set about bringing the battalion back up to strength. Nearly 400 replacements joined the battalion and stragglers, separated from the battalion for various reasons during the previous two months while in Greece and Crete, continued to arrive for several weeks as they made their way across the Mediterranean by various means, including small sailboats. By mid-June, the battalion was at full strength and several weeks were spent at the battalion’s previous positions at Baggush, engaged in intensive desert training before being committed to a campaign in the North African desert which began on 10 June 1940 and would last for two years. The campaigns were fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation TORCH), as well as Tunisia (Tunisian campaign).
Operation ‘Crusader’
In November 1941, the 20th Battalion was a participant in Operation Crusader, the British Eighth Army’s offensive to halt the drive of the Axis forces (German and Italian) towards Egypt in the North African desert.
On the night of 25 November, the 20th battalion along with the 18th Battalion was tasked with the night-time capture of Belhamed, a hill adjacent to the Sidi Rezegh escarpment in Libya, and which overlooked an airfield where other elements of 2NZ Div were dug in. The securing of Belhamed and Sidi Rezegh were considered essential if the corridor across the airfield to Tobruk on the Mediterranean coast was to be kept open. As the battalion’s units moved to their positions, Kippenberger made a navigational error which resulted in his headquarters company becoming separated from the other companies of the battalion. It took him until daylight for him to re-establish contact with the remainder of the battalion which, when he located it, was in its expected position having taken the Belhamed with few losses. Shortly after his arrival Kippenberger was wounded by machine gun fire and evacuated. Several other senior officers also became wounded during the day which eventual left a Captain to take temporary charge of the battalion.
On 26 November the men were still digging in as they came under attack from heavy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire from a strong enemy pocket situated in a depression between Belhamed and Sidi Rezegh. Casualties mounted steadily and the pocket of entrenched enemy became the objective of 20th Battalion whose commander had been order to send out two companies (B – Pte. Hec McCauley’s company, and D Company) to attack them in daylight and with only limited artillery support! Despite the protestations of the acting battalion commander that they were already weakened by the high number of casualties they had sustained, the attack proceeded at 11a.m. on the 27th with predictably catastrophic results.
As soon as the companies moved off they began taking casualties. They were only half way to their target when the companies pinned down by heavy machine-gun fire on to the flat, featureless desert floor with little protection. There they remained until nightfall. Many men were killed and wounded during the 12 hours of this ill-conceived attack, including Pte. Hec McCauley. When B Company was finally withdrawn and the killed and wounded tallied, there were only 32 soldiers left from approximately 120 in the company. Apart from the havoc that was wrecked on B and D Companies, Rommel had concentrated almost his entire force of heavy guns on Belhamed. By December 1st, the occupants had almost been completely destroyed as the Italian and German Infantry accompanying the 15th Panzer Division captured the NZ battalion’s survivors as Prisoners of War. Only one Rifleman managed to escape capture.
The two days of fighting had cost the battalion dearly: 35 killed and died of wounds, and 62 were wounded. When Operation Crusader eventually concluded, the 20th Battalion’s casualties were their most significant of the entire war; 60 soldiers were killed or died of their wounds, and another 126 were wounded.
The 2nd New Zealand Division had fought its most costly battle of the war. The casualties across all units totaled 879 dead and 1700 wounded.
Pte. Eric Francis “Hec” McCauley (31) was Killed in Action on 27 November 1941 and was subsequently buried in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery in Acroma, Libya.
Source: 20th Battalion, Greece, Crete & Operation Crusader: nztec.victoria.ac.nz; NZ History (nzhistory.govt.nz); Wikipedia
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Whilst Pte. Hec McCauley was overseas, his wife Carol remained at Burwood Station, had taken the odd trip to Nelson to pick tobacco and generally kept busy while waiting for Hec’s return but sadly this was not to be. Carol was 35 when she learned in Dec 1941 that her husband had been killed in Libya. Following the advice of her husband’s death Carol McCauley received a Memorial Cross from the Defence Department honouring Hec’s death and service. After the war she also received the following medals:
Medals: 1939/45 Star, Africa Star (w/clasp: 8th Army), War Medal 1939/45, NZ War Service Medal; WW2 NZ Memorial Cross with an illuminated Memorial Scroll.
Service overseas: 5 Jan 1940 – 27 Nov 1941
Total 2NZEF service: 2 years 2 months
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In 2007, Cyril Orme was 90 years of age when he began dictating his memoirs of the war and experiences as a POW. He wrote of his high regard for General Freyberg and described several battles in 1940 and 1941, the last one when Rommel’s Panzers came at them with logs towed behind their tanks to create dust and sand screens to conceal their disposition and movement. When they could see again, the unit was surrounded by German tanks and German and Italian Infantry. The surrounded New Zealanders were given the option to surrender or die! The former option was taken up. Cyril’s fighting war was relatively brief.
Over 350 NZ and Allied soldiers were captured including Pte. Orme, effectively ending their was as Prisoners of War. Only one Rifleman managed to escape capture. The POWs and walking wounded were marched back to Tobruk, the more serious hospital cases were trucked, and all were interned in the temporary POW compound at Bardia for many weeks until they could be shipped to permanent POW camps in Italy and Germany. Pte. Cyril Orme was interned for almost four and a half years including various POW transit camps in Germany and finally to Italy – Camp P.G. 103 at Trevisio in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Here he remained until the war ended.
In his memoirs Cyril also confirmed that he had not known Pte. Hec McCauley, contrary to the Orme family’s general belief that he had – why else would he have had Hec McCauley’s medals and photographs, they thought? Cyril in fact had not only been younger than Hec when they both joined the 20th Battalion at Burnham but was in a different Company. His capture in Libya on 13 December 1941, seventeen days after Hec McCauley was killed, had also scotched any future opportunity for the two men to have met.
After the war
Cyril Orme returned to New Zealand in late 1945 somewhat the worse for wear after his years in captivity, but at least he was alive. He had returned to Invercargill in anticipation of marrying the girl he thought had been waiting for him, only to discover she had married another. His broken heart however was short lived after he met the widow of a soldier who he learned had also been in the 20th Battalion and ironically, in the same November 1941 battle action in which Cyril was captured. It could be said that Cyril was marginally luckier than Hec by becoming a POW, while a most unpleasant and brutal experience, had actually saved his life.
When he arrived back in Wellington, Cyril needed to be hospitalised to have a bullet fragment removed from his hip. He returned to Invercargill but finding it so cold, he shifted up to Christchurch and got a job as a Roofer for Briscoes and then Ashby Bergs. It was at a dance in Christchurch that he met Hannah Ryan, the sister of Carol Kate Ryan McCauley, whom he had known in Invercargill. It was at a later dance that Hannah introduced Cyril to her sister Carol. Their mutual connection to the 20th Battalion, heartbreak and losses undoubtedly drew the two together and led to their marriage in Christchurch on 24 June 1946.
A new beginning
They began their married life at 84 Fitzgerald Street in Christchurch, Cyril (31) a self-employed Tiler which was his stock and trade for the rest of his working life. By 1954, the Orme’s had moved to 262 Pine Avenue at New Brighton and the home they lived in for the rest of their lives. Cyril and Carol’s 57 years of marriage concluded after Carol eventually went into care at Cashmere View retirement home. Cyril hired an apartment at Cashmere View so he could remain with his wife during her last years. Carol Kate Orme (formerly McCauley) passed away at age 96 in 2003. The war medals and Memorial Cross she had received in recognition of her first husband Hec’s war service, his photographs and items of memorabilia automatically passed to her husband Cyril. Having completed his memoirs and passed on Hec McCauley’s medals etc, Cyril also died at Cashmere View in 2012. His own medals (the same as Hec’s) were given to Carol’s nephew, John Ryan.
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Having unravelled the connections between Cyril Orme and Hec McCauley, my next task was to locate a near descendant to be the recipient of Hec McCauley’s medals and photographs etc. That required further evaluation of the McCauley family’s structure.
Malcolm Anderson “Max” McCauley (1937- )
Fortunately it did not take me long to trace the branches of Hec McCauley’s family as it is well served with information online, due in no small part to the very public profile of the “Yodelling Cowboy”. Once I had assemble that part of the McCauley family tree that identified possible living connections to Hec, I began with the families of the three eldest members of the McCauley family: Robert James (1904-1993), William John (1906-1983) and Gordon Alexander (1908-1968) McCauley.
My first positive contact came from then 86 year old Mataura born Malcolm Anderson McCauley, aka Max, the third son of Gordon Alexander and Dorothy Margaret McCauley (nee Wildey), Gordon the one time Foreman of the Clydevale Rabbit Board for many years.
Max at the time was living in Gore and as I looked into his ancestral connections, I discovered he was a very well known identity in NZ – in fact “Max” was/is a living legend in the New Zealand country music industry! Max McCauley is a Southland country and western singer and entertainer who is renowned for his yodelling ability. Max also made a significant contribution as co-founder of the NZ Golden Guitar Awards competition of which he has been instrumental in holding every year in Gore since its inception in 1974. Max is also the ‘godfather’ of the Gore Country Music Club, a foundation member of the club that was started in 1972. Together with wife Coral, both are Life Members and living legends of the club.
Max says he learned his first guitar chords during Compulsory Military Training (CMT) at Burnham Military Camp in the mid-1950s however his ability to perfect the art of yodelling goes right back to 1936, and hasn’t stopped (yet). During his 10½ weeks of CMT at the Burnham, a fellow trainee gave 18-year-old Max McCauley his first guitar lesson. The fellow showed him three chords and told him if he was keen enough he would learn the rest. The first song he learned to play was Wilf Carter’s ‘A Cowboy’s Best Friend Is His Pony’. In 1961 Max joined a band called “The Mountaineers” recording first with Viking Records and then Music World. During the following six decades, Max released many records on Viking, Master and its successor Music World, and some independently. Along the way, he performed his earliest shows with two men destined to go on to NZ show business fame, Ray Columbus and The Invaders, and Howard Morrison. Max started his own promotions company with fellow musicians, toured alongside Howard Morrison, Paul Walden, John Hore (Grenell), Maria Dallas and many other well known country music artists, while also appearing on the NZBC television show The Country Touch.
When I phoned Max to give him the news he would soon be receiving his Uncle Hec McCauley’s war medals, Max was overwhelmed and very grateful. I related to him how Valerie had contacted me and that she was very keen to meet with Max as she had some family photographs of his uncle that he may be interested in having. He very much wanted to meet Valerie but he and his lovely wife Coral were right in the middle of moving house to the Resthaven Village in Main Street Gore, so would needed to get that squared away first. Max’s eyesight is also no too flash so he would probably enlist the help of his and Coral’s daughter Karen from Invercargill for the journey to Oamaru. As it happened I also needed to speak with Karen who indicated she would take Max and Coral to Oamaru once they were settled. In the meantime, the medals Valerie sent to MRNZ were cleaned, photographed and returned to Valerie so that she could personally had them to Max as she wished when he called.
When I next spoke with Max a couple of months later, he called to tell me he and Coral had had a lovely afternoon with Valerie during which and discussed many aspects of the McCauley and Orme families and how they had intersected, some of the stories a revelation to them both. Now 87, Max proudly wears his Uncle Hec McCauley’s medals to Anzac Day services. He and Coral are still making music and remain avid supporters all things country. Unfortunately Max’s yodelling days are all but over since a recent inspection of the ‘pipes’ in conjunction with his asthma, has resulted in the doctor’s orders suspending the use of the “Yodelling Cowboy’s” instrument. Max and Coral may just have to dust off the CD’s and re-run those to hear Max’s yodelling at its finest. No doubt Max’s perfection of the yodelling art will go down in New Zealand’s country and western history, perhaps even Hall of Fame territory many would say? As for the Golden Guitar competition, that is well and truly imbedded in New Zealand and Gore’s musical events calendar. Now in its 49th year (2023) of hatching home grown national and international country music stars of the future, Max and Coral will undoubtedly be there and proudly supporting the event, with or without Max’s ‘yodel’.
Missing – it is not known where the Memorial Cross is that was given to Mrs Carol (McCauley) Orme. If you can assist with any information to locate the cross, we would appreciate hearing from you.
My thanks to Valerie for contacting Medals Reunited NZ, it was a real pleasure to see the medals and memorabilia of Hec McCauly returned to family ownership. Special thanks to Glen Moffatt for extracts from his Audio Culture profile of Max McCauley and the reproduction of photographs from Max’s personal collection. More information about Max can be seen on the Audio Culture web page https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/max-mccauley
The reunited medal tally is 467.
