Welfare Vehicles

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Found on AWM site:

"Informal portrait of Salvation Army Officers. Identified from left to right: Red Shield War Representative and unofficial Padre, Major Arthur William 'Mac' McIlveen; Major Ralph Satchell and Major Harold Hosier. The vehicle is a Ford station wagon that has been converted to a mobile canteen, the Salvation Army Red Shield sign is visible on the door of the vehicle and the Australian Comfort Fund sign on the back panel. McIlveen trained as a Salvation Army officer in Melbourne and tried to enlist as a Padre during the First World War but the Salvation Army refused to send him as his superiors considered him ‘too reckless’. Instead McIlveen enlisted as a private in the AIF on 9 July 1918 but it proved an anti-climax as he was still aboard the transport vessel, SS Wyreema, when the armistice was signed and he was sent home. During the Second World War, aged 54, he served as a Salvation Army Representative and an unofficial Padre attached to the 2/9th Battalion. At Tobruk, he was known for his fearlessness, taking news and any comforts he could find out to soldiers in the field. On his return from overseas service he served as a Salvation Army Prison Officer in NSW until he retired with the rank of Brigadier. He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 10 June 1961. In 1967 he was admitted to the Order of the Founder, the Salvation Army's highest award, and he was knighted for his services to ex-servicemen on 1 January 1970. Sir Arthur William McIlveen died on 1 May 1979 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, and was buried in Woronora cemetery with full military honours."

AWM 4065970.JPG

Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C356125