The Second World War was a difficult time for the Club, with many senior members required to serve in the armed forces. The Club was held together during this time by the solid leadership of President Reg Sanderson, along with the very strong women's club and junior members.
But the War also provided the backdrop to many incidents which became club legends. Life Member Bill Mortimer was involved in two such incidents, reproduced from Custodians and Champions.
Many of the City members who joined the armed forces returned with tales of great humour and heroism. Perhaps the best belonged to Felix 'Ashcan' Aston - who had joined City of Perth after accompanying workmate Bob Bestman to Rottnest on one of the club's Easter trips - and Bill Mortimer, both of whom served in the AIF. Fairly early in the war, Aston was awarded a Military Medal, but it was some sharp dealing in Libya, with his old City mate Mortimer, that distinguished them both in the eyes of their fellows. As Bill Mortimer recounted:
Before embarking from Libya, I met 'Ashcan' while we were getting re-equipped for Greece. The second-in-charge of "C" Company told me to pick up a thirty hundredweight truck, drive to an army canteen... to get as much beer as I could with the money collected from the troops. I picked up 'Ashcan' on the way. We arrived and spent about three hours drinking and thinking. I backed up to the rear and showed a most impressive document to the Pom in charge. It was a piece of paper telling him to load 100 dozen beer, it was signed by Colonel Aston of the Second 8th Battalion... of the Sixth Division AIF. The Poms loaded the booze, produced an order book and said "Sign here". So I did. And the second-in-charge went mad at me for taking so long and getting drunk on the men's money. I said: "I'm sorry about being late, but here is at least four or five times the amount of beer that the money would have bought, and here is the money back!" I don't think there was a sober bloke that night or the next day in "C" Company.
Bill Mortimer was also involved in a narrow escape from the Germans on
Crete. When the Germans invaded, Mortimer's commanding officer told the troops
that they could either 'take to the hills or surrender'. Mortimer, according
to his own testimony, 'was half way up the hill before he finished speaking'.
He crossed the island, and met up with an officer, Captain Fitzhardinge, who
was a prominent member of the Royal Perth Yacht Club and who had somehow
obtained a small wooden dinghy with a sail. The pair were setting off for
Africa when they were sighted and shot at from the shore by the enemy. At
the suggestion of Mortimer, an excellent beltman and a winner of the
Swim-Thru-Perth, the pair went over the side and towed the boat out of range.
That night, an Italian submarine surfaced alongside them and took Captain
Fitzhardinge prisoner. Mortimer, left to his own devices, reached the North
African coast three and a half days later.
