Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

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My name is Pat Coady

My number was NX 6766.

My army service started when I was in Peak Hill . I joined the Light Horse in February of 1939.

When war broke out in September I applied to join the A.I.F.. I had to report to Victoria Barracks on the 25th October for attestation where I was passed A1 for service.

I went into camp that day at Rosebery Race Course; it was the first camp in N.S.W. to take in A.I.F. troops.

After training there and at Liverpool and Ingleburn, I boarded the Queen Mary and sailed for the Middle East on the 5th of May 1940. The convey was a large one when it finally assembled at sea; there was six troop ships plus four escorts. Aside from the Queen Mary, there was the Acquitania, the Mauretania and three Empress boats - the Britain, the Canada and the Japan. Three of these carried New Zealanders.

Our first port of call was Freemantle where the Queen Mary had to anchor off shore; all the other boats docked and the troops got shore leave; the one's aboard the Mary weren't too happy and showed their displeasure, so we pulled out of there pretty quick.

We set sail for Egypt but half way up the Indian Ocean we changed course and headed for Cape Town. When we reached there the same thing happened and had to anchor in the harbour whereas all the other ships docked and got leave. If our lot were unhappy in Freemantle they were really mad at Capetown and started to wreak the boat; we were eventually let off for half a day.

Another thing that happened whilst we were in Capetown was that some of the crew mutinied, they reckoned that they didn't join to be shark bait, as the Germans knew all that what was going on!

There was also another incident on our way up the Atlantic early one morning the ship shuddered violently; the rumour was that we had run over a submarine. The Mary kept going.

We arrived in Glasgow six weeks after leaving Australia and were taken by train to the Salisbury Plains. We were in camp there for about three months before shifting over to Colchester on the East coast.

We were on England for seven months; as the threat of a German invasion was over they packed us off to the Middle East; this time we didn't go first class! it was on a cargo ship and in hammocks down a hole.

We arrived in Egypt late in March of 1941 via Durban. It was an uneventful trip; there was a stop over in Durban and we got ashore.

After about a week in Suez getting ready to go up to the action we were on our way - through the recent battle fields and stopped at Tobruk; not thinking that in a few days time it would be our home for another seven months!!

One thing worth mentioning was that we had an accident and three of our chaps got killed. What happened was that one of our trucks broke down and as it was being towed it ran over the truck that was towing us tipping it over.

We got up to a place called Barce but had to pull back as the Germans were on the move. That was the start of the first retreat in the desert. We fell back to Toburk and that was the beginning of the Siege of Tobirk.

We were relieved by a destroyer and taken to Alexandria. I finished up at a place called Rafah in the Gaza Strip. After spending over twelve months there, I arrived back in Australia on 23rd March 1943, almost three years after I left.

We were given leave and I had to report to Melbourne as an Audit Clerk.
I stuck that out for seven months, then I wanted to get out. The Air Force or the Paratroops were the only options; I choose the Paratroops - applied and passed the tests.

The Parachute Battalion was the most select unit in the A.I.F. It was the hardest unit to get into and the hardest to get out of.

The Army started calling for volunteers to train as Paratroopers late in 1942. There was no shortage of volunteers; they applied for all units of all divisions. One day 150 were interviewed and only 2 were selected; after two months, there were 40 for the first class.

The criteria for selection was that you had to be of average intelligence and to have a good Army record; not too tall and to weigh about 84 kg. Those that met this criteria had to pass an Air Force Flying Medical before going into training first at Laverton, then to Tocumwal and then finally to Richmond.

The training unit was called Group 244 R.A.A.F Army Z., or R.A.A.F. Parachute Training Unit.

The course consisted if P.T. exercises, Gymnastics, Tumbling, Somersaulting on the mat, Vaulting on the Horse, Boxing, Wrestling, Athletics, Football (league and Aussie rules), Basketball and Tennis.

There was jumping from both high and low platforms, also a slide which was about 10ft. high. We also had to jump from the back of moving trucks . In all these exercises we had to keep our feet and knees together with our legs bent so that when we landed we rolled on our shoulder forward and backwards.

We had rifle and bayonet drill and unarmed combat; there was an assault course which involved going through barbed wire, up a wall by rope, crawl through tunnels, over logs and across water by rope.

The early trainees went to the Canungra Jungle Training school in Queensland.

There were lectures on field craft, Signals, Map reading, Morse Code, Explosives, Mortars and Machine guns.

We had to learn how to pack the Parachute or static chute as it really was, it was in 2 parts - the static strop and pack, and the Parachute lines and the Harness. The canopy was tied to the inside of the pack by a silken cord about 1/4 in thick, then the chute was folded into it, followed by the lines and risers.

The Parachute had a number and a log book. After each jump it was checked and repaired as needed; then tested and repacked. In the early days the trainees had to pack their own chutes and for the first jump they also had a reserve chute. This was discontinued as it was considered useless because by the time you realised the chute was not going to open you were too close to the ground.

A packing unit was also formed and they took charge of all the packing.

Before we made our first jump we had to jump out of a mock up tower. It was shaped like an aircraft fuselage and was about 30 feet high. There was a steel cable leading from above the door at right angles to a 20 feet post about 50 yards away the cable was fixed to the top of the post.

You were fitted into the Parachute harness which was clipped onto the steel cable and you jumped out as if from a plane. You were carried down and before you hit the pole, released yourself., Sounds easy, but there was quite a lot that jibbed at it. We were only supposed to do it once.

I had no trouble when my turn came, but the powers that be thought it would be a good idea if we went through it again the next day. When my turn came again, for some unknown reason, my feet were glued to the platform; my mind knew I had to go but my feet didn't! So I fell out and in doing so I nearly lost an ear but I was out. I passed the test.

Then came the time for my first jump; strangely I did not feel nervous. It was solo and I went out like a lamb from about 700 feet. When the chute opened, an instructor with a loud hailer was giving me instructions.

When I landed, I was very excited, but that was normal. Your ears were blocked up so you were shouting and did not realise. Floating down by parachute was very exhilitariting and the most exciting thing that I have ever done.

We had to do seven jumps to qualify; one being at night. I passed and qualified as a Parachutist on the 26th of January, 1944. I was then posted to the battalion as a machine gunner in H.Q. company.

By this time the battalion was formed and had moved to Mareeha in North Queensland. We spent the rest of the war up there doing manoeuvres with other units of the A.I.F. and training in the rain Forrest.

The P.T.U. suffered a lot of injuries whilst training; mainly to the ankles and knees. There was a few fatalities; the first one was when a trainees chute fouled the tail plane. They flew around for hours but it would not shake loose. Eventually they flew low over a lake; he released himself but was killed when he hit the water. Another was killed when his chute failed to develop. One was drowned while doing a water jump. Two were killed in a plane crash. A chap was killed while throwing hand grenades; the plug came back and hit him in the head.


When the war ended it was the first unit to be disbanded; it was costing the Government too much to run.

A company did go to Singapore for the surrender signing.

I was discharged on the 5th of September, 1945 from a unit that offered so much but delivered so little.
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