"During a rowdy Christmas dinner in 1918, a month into peacetime, Australian air force mechanic Tim Tovell noticed a starving boy wander into the mess hall in occupied territory in Germany. The tiny French boy, Honore Hemene, was just 11 when he was invited to join Australian Squadron Four's table and earned his meal by captivating the airmen with his incredible story of survival. It was an act of kindness that would go far beyond a meal - it changed the course of his life. 'Henri' as the Aussies called him, explained that his whole family - mother, sisters and brother - were killed during the war when his home in Seclin was bombed by German artillery. He was seven years old at the time and his father, a soldier, died earlier in the war on the Western Front. Henri survived on his own for four years by attaching himself to various French and British units and scavenging food from troops near the battlefields of northern Belgium. But the members of Australian Air Force Squadron Four warmed to the boy, who was 11 by the time they met him. He became their unofficial mascot, a joker and rat-catcher in the barracks, and was even taken for daredevil joyrides on the squadron's Sopwith Camel biplanes. Eventually they dubbed him 'Little Digger'. With his wartime service over, Private Tovell smuggled Henri, who had begun to see him as a father figure, on the boat to England in a sack. When it came time to embark on the long trip back to Australia in late 1918, Henri was again smuggled aboard by Tim and his brother Ted Tovell, this time in a fancy dress basket. Although discovered, he was allowed to stay and disembark in Australia when the ship Kaisar-i-Hind arrived in Australia on January 31, 1919." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9502559/Amazing-story-French-orphan-lived-WWI-warzone-adopted-Australian-soldier.html
