Ashley Ekins in his introduction to The Anzac Book (2010) quotes from C. E. W. Bean's diary 'that a Private Nash of the Army Service Corps "came in with a surprisingly exquisite piece of prose and verse on the grey outlook of everything ... He was an unlettered chap - left shool at 11 ... He had read poems in the Bulletin and that is his only literary education but there is little short of genius in the crude work."' The prose piece is published in The Anzac Book as by N. Ash (11th A.A.S.C.) and the poem as R. G. N. (11th Aust.A.S.C.). Ekins identifies the writer as Private R. G. B. Nash, 11th Company, Australian Army Service Corps.
The AIF Project lists a Robert George Buchan Nash, private in the Railway Supply Detachment, Army Service Corps 11. Private Nash, from Young, New South Wales, enlisted 18 September 1914 and returned to Australia 19 December 1919.
Source: Ashley Ekins, 'A 'Precious Souvenir': The Making of The Anzac Book', The Anzac Book (2010): xvi, xxxiv; The AIF Project database, www.aif.adfa.edu.au (sighted 27/10/2010)
