SHOCK FOR WIDOW

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 October 1939, Page 13

SHOCK FOR WIDOW

DEAD HUSBAND ON SCREEN. SYDNEY, September 24. Seated in a city theatre, Mrs. H. C. Gjedsted, of Simpson Street, Bondi, suddenly saw marching towards her on the screen her husband, who was killed in action at Bullecourt, on May 5, 1917. For four seconds the tall, squareshouldered figure stepped briskly across the screen, then the fleeting scene had passed and 'a flood of memories swept back upon Mrs. Gjedsted. The film was “Australia Prepared,” which takes its audience back 25 years and shows an A.I.F. contingent marching down Macquarie Street. The husband, Henry Chatfield Gjedsted, was a member of the contingent. Dazed, Mrs. Gjedsted left the theatre and communicated with Mr. R. S. Garner, business manager of Cinesound, who, by strange coincidence, found that he had known her husband, at one time treasurer of J. C. Williamsons, Ltd. Mr. Garner immediately arranged a private screening, which was witnessed by Mrs. Gjedsted and her daughter, Miss Mary Gjedsted. “To see again the father I hardly remembered was the most remarkable experience I have ever had,” Miss Mary Gjedsted said. “Imagine my feelings as I saw him walk towards me. It was uncanny. It is almost unbelievable.

“I was only four when I last saw him, but his image has never left me. The moment I saw him on the screen 1 recognised him.” Miss Gjedsted said that she had seen the Great War scenes featured in “Australia Prepared” about nine years ago in another film. Struck by the similarity between a certain figure on the screen and photographs of her soldier father, she had made inquiries at the theatre, only to find the film had been sent to the country. Her father had enlisted in 1915 and had been returned wounded to Australia in 1916. He re-enlisted the same vear and was killed at Bullecourt.