Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

FRANCIS HENRY MAWSON NX105044
2/33RD AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION

Francis Henry Mawson NX 105044 was born on 26th November 1918 at Newtown. During the Depression he spent his childhood living in Paddington and Darlinghurst, two of Sydney’s poverty stricken suburbs.

He passed his Qualifying Certificate at Fort Street School but left school at the age of 12 to help support his family. He got a job as delivery boy with a menswear store, mainly delivering suits in flat cardboard boxes that he used to balance on the handlebars of his bike. He later became a valued employee of the store as a presser and cutter of men’s suits.

Harry as he came to be known was a champion flyweight and bantamweight boxer with the Paddington Police Boys Club. One opponent he knocked out, Tommy Morse, later became a world champion.
Harry was a great dancer. He attended dances at the Paddington Town Hall.

He answered the call to arms within weeks of the outbreak of World War II, enlisting in the Militia on 5th January 1940, aged 21 at Paddington. While training at Ingleburn Army Camp he met his wife-to-be Enid Hunt. He recalled one occasion he was walking to the railway station to visit Enid when a Brigadier General stopped his car. “Let me give you a lift soldier,” he said. Harry declined. He was AWL and didn’t have a leave pass. He was sure he would be asked to show it.

Another time when he went AWL to visit Enid at Coogee, Japanese subs shelled Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. It was 7th June 1942. He raced back to camp thinking he would be missed. Everyone was asleep. While training in Sydney he was promoted to Lance Corporal and then Corporal, but requested to be transferred from the Militia to the A.I.F. so he could serve overseas. Because of his Militia experience he was used to train troops, he loved driving Bren Gun Carriers which led him to being transferred to the 2/33rd’s 2 Platoon Headquarters Company.

On receiving orders he was to be sent overseas, he and Enid married on 31st October, 1942, so she could be listed as his next of kin. They had a four-day honeymoon at Manly.

Harry’s destination was Port Moresby. He was one of 300 replacements for the 2/33rd Battalion which had suffered heavy losses on the Kokoda Trail, and was fighting a pitched battle against the Japanese at Gona.

The Battalion down to fewer than 140 exhausted men out of the original 625 who had started on the Kokoda campaign 98 days earlier, was withdrawn from action the same day the reinforcements arrived, 7th December, 1942.

Before returning to Queensland, Harry and the other reinforcements were sent to climb Imita Ridge and the infamous Golden Staircase as a jungle training exercise. It was an arduous climb and Harry and his mates had great admiration for the men who climbed it in battle conditions fighting the enemy. After assisting in the fighting, Harry returned to Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands in March 1943.

Harry was undergoing further training in preparation for the attack to re-capture Lae from the Japanese when a bizarre accident put him in hospital. On 1st July 1943, he was using a petrol iron in a Salvation Army hut when someone walked in and lit a cigarette. The explosion of the iron caused him serious second degree burns to the face and right arm. He spent weeks recovering in the 2/2nd General Hospital at Rocky Creek Qld.

Before returning to New Guinea on 20th August 1943, his HQ Company represented the battalion in a parade before the Minister for the Army, Frank Forde.

Luck was on Harry’s side a number of times during the war, or it might have been the prayers Enid was saying for him. His first lucky escape was in the Liberator crash 17 days after returning to Port Moresby for the start of the Lae campaign.

At 4am on 7th September 1943, Harry was sitting on the tailgate of one of the trucks in the convoy parked at the end of Port Moresby’s Jackson’s airfield when he saw the US Army Air Force Liberator in flames heading towards the convoy. Not wanting to get burnt again he jumped clear, at the same time yelling out to warn his mates: Look out! Look out! Look out!

Many times he yelled out the same thing during nightmares that haunted him for the rest of his life.

The full extent of the tragedy – 73 killed or mortally injured and 90 more injured – wasn’t known until the next day. Harry and others always thought the plane had been sabotaged, although that was never proved. Harry went into frontline action from Nadzab two days later. One of his first orders was to take six men and silence a Japanese machine gun. A platoon of American soldiers hadn’t been able to accomplish it.

As he and the men walked towards it, artillery fire silenced the gun for them. After making sure all were dead and the gun immobilized they returned to report it had been silenced. The Americans standing nearby were amazed, saying ‘You eat canned meat and dog biscuits and go out and do battle”.

Harry and the 2/33rd entered Lae on 16th September 1943 after seven days of bitter fighting against the Japanese who were heavily entrenched along the Markham Valley. After Lae he returned to Nadzab and took part in the Ramu Valley and Surinam Valley campaigns, and the battle for Shaggy Ridge where the only access was on treacherous single-file tracks with falls of hundreds of metres on either side. Harry said he had to tie himself to a tree so he didn’t fall over the precipitous sides when resting or trying to sleep.

On 30th November he fell seriously ill with malaria. He was making his way back to the 2/4th Field Ambulance when he collapsed in a ditch. Good luck again came to the rescue this time in the form of American soldiers who found him.
They said “Soldier, where are you going? You are behind enemy lines”.

Harry recovered briefly but suffered a further attack on 4th February 1944. This time the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels helped him and he was admitted to the 2/5th A.G.H. then transferred to 7 Division Rest Camp.

Luck followed Harry when he was about to be flown back to Port Moresby. The pilot counted heads and ordered Harry off the plane because he didn’t want to fly with 13 passengers. Harry got the next plane. During the trip the plane was swerving about. Everyone asked what was going on. The pilot said they were looking for the previous plane. It had crashed.

Harry left Port Moresby by ship on 23 March 1944. Back home he was charged for being A.W.L. after extending his leave for 16 days.

Before being discharged on 17th November 1945 Harry had six months in and out of hospital and convalescent homes with flare-ups of malaria and complications arising from a cartilage surgery nearly cost him his life. While in hospital for malaria it was discovered he had a torn cartilage and needed an operation immediately. He was given a spinal injection to deaden the leg. When the doctor made the first cut Harry kicked both legs and sent the doctor and tray of instruments flying, he leg was not dead. A few hours after the operation the injection started to work but his upper body was going numb so he had to be massaged to stop it reaching his heart. He had nasty headaches for a good while.

He was in Sydney Showground Regiment when the war ended. He remembered everyone kissing when the news came through.

Harry returned to his pre-war position at G Jones Menswear store at Chatswood. He and Enid purchased land at Ermington and he applied for a war service loan to build a house. He rode his bicycle from Ermington to Chatswood through Lane Cove National Park every day. He was very fit. He was then required to manage a store in Hamilton, Newcastle catching the train to Newcastle and returning home on Saturday and staying at the Kent Hotel. This was very had on family life.

Harry took advantage of a study grant for returned servicemen to become a Triple Certificate Nurse specialising in Psychiatry. Not an easy task studying, working and having young children around the house.

He worked at Rydalmere Psychiatric Hospital for 30 years. He became a senior charge nurse and was instrumental in improving conditions for workers at the hospital.

He and Enid had six children, John, Kevin, Mary, Carmel, Stephen and David.

Harry became a Director on the Board of Parramatta Hospital he worked tirelessly to improve conditions at the hospital.

Harry was appointed to the Crown Employees Appeals Board and travelled New South Wales with Justice William Perrignon, adjudicating various cases.

Harry went back to New Guinea in 1980 to visit the Bomana and Lae War Cemeteries. At Lae he saw a grave of a mate, NX20605 Donald Kitchener McKinnon who died on 17th September 1943. Harry said “So that’s what happened to you”. He didn’t know.

An artillery shell, a war souvenir, he kept in the linen cupboard at home, was final proof that luck had been with him. It came through the top of a tent where he was sleeping, but it was a dud and didn’t explode. A sound sleeper, Harry didn’t wake up. By the time he did, his mates had retrieved the shell from the tent and had engraved Harry’s name on it. “This one was meant for you, Harry,” they said handing him the shell.

Harry never spoke much about the war but did say he hated the kunai grass and the mud. In 1990 when some exchange students came to Russell in Qld. Enid said he shouldn’t still have ill feelings towards the Japanese. He responded: “When you have had rifle in your face and a Jap at the other end, talk to me about it then”.

One of his greatest honours was in 1995 the 50th Anniversary parade for Victory in the Pacific Day. He was walking to join the Sydney parade when he was pulled into the lead Jeep. He never thought that would happen in his life. He was so proud.

Harry always attended Anzac Day Marches to catch up with his mates and remember those who didn’t come home.

Harry loved fishing and helping people. He worked hard to provide for his family. He was the best Dad.

Harry died on 14th March 2008, age 89. He is buried at Leppington Cemetery.