Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

MILITARY SERVICE HISTORY of
23678 Able Seaman Kevin Wellington EDWARDS
Researched By His Son, 4717484 SSGT G. W. Edwards JP RAE (Ret)

At the age of 18 years and 8 months, on 23 October 1939 Kevin Wellington Edwards joined the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and underwent his initial training at the shore based HMAS Cerberus. On 23 April 1940 Kevin was sent to sea and served on HMAS Canberra where he took part in all of Canberra’s operations until 26 July 1941. Kevin was part of the crew of Canberra when it sank the supply tanker Kitty Boric that had just re-fuelled the German raider Admiral Scheer only hours earlier in the Indian Ocean.

After a short term on the survey ship HMAS Polaris Kevin was sent to crew HMAS Kalgoorlie on 7 April 1942 where he served until 26 March 1943. The following day Kevin changed ships and was now serving on HMAS Shepparton. A number of our ships were at Milne Bay and it was here that Shepparton had an anchor wedged in coral and was unable to winch the anchor up. Kevin was a hardhat naval diver and was in the water attempting to recover the anchor when the Japanese attacked, bombing all ships. The concussion caused by the bombing had knocked Kevin unconscious and he was bleeding internally when pulled from the water. On 16 November 1943 Kevin was taken off Shepparton and hospitalised back in Australia. Then on medical grounds; in Adelaide at HMAS Torrens on 10 February 1944, Able Seaman Kevin Edwards was discharged from the RAN.

Kevin was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, African Star, Pacific Star, 1939-1945 War Medal and Australian Service Medal.

Footnote:- During WWII the RAN was subject to the same rigid discipline as that of the Royal Navy and it was a disgrace (and court martial offence) for a ships captain to lose an anchor. A copy of the ships Log for HMAS Shepparton was requested to verify the dates of the Milne Bay attack but Naval Records were not able to track down this Log. Logs before and after the incident were located but not the one at the time of the Japanese attack. As such; it was concluded that; to get the ship underway and not be a static target, the anchor chain was cut during the action and the anchor lost. This is a logical assumption and if so; it is believed that the captain was later charged for the loss of the anchor and that the ships Log (being called into evidence) was not returned to be with the history of the ship following the court martial but is buried elsewhere within the naval archives.