Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Howard preferred to go by his second name George, to me he was called Grandpa.

He prided himself on his ability to turn just about any food into a delicious feast. 

He told me he deserted from the army early in his life and wandered around Queensland (he jumped cargo trains to get around) during the great depression, before joining the Navy in 1935.

After the war he was a very troubled and angry man that often had nightmares about the battles he was in and the sinking of the Yarra II. He often went to reunions with the other survivors of the Yarra II.

The year he died he attended a 50th Anniversery Reunion. At that reunion he was telling people the story of the sinking of Yarra II when someone yelled out they had just heard the same story from one of the Dutch Submariners from the Submarine K11 which rescued the survivors after 5 days floating around at sea on a door. He told me he wept when he shook the mans hand. 

He had a passion for wood work and loved to make fancy picture frames, many of which ended up in the Art Gallery of South Australia. He lost 3 fingers to the round saw, turned me off woodworking forever. 

Grandpa loved to collect art, his house was full of paintings, so many in fact that many of them were in stacks leaning against walls. He also enjoyed collecting and displaying miniture spirit bottles. 

Grandpa loved his VW Combi Van and enjoyed boating and fishing. 

Grandpa was always well dressed with polished shoes.

He couldn't understand why anyone would sleep past daybreak. 

Most people seemed to get on well with Grandpa but sadly he had great difficulty relating to his family. Thankfully most of the time I got on okay with him.