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Lieutenant S.G. Rickard A.I.F.

Solomon Gerald Rickard was born in South Australia in the York Peninsula town of Moonta on 11th August, 1906. His parents, Joseph John and Adelaide Rickard were descendants of Cornish copper miners who arrived in South Australia in the mid-19th century. His father, a chemist, eventually settled in Adelaide in the suburb of Medindie, where he dispensed from his pharmacy on Main North Road. Solomon grew up with an elder brother and sister, Ronald and Jeanette, and finished his education at Adelaide High School, before commencing an apprenticeship as an electrical fitter. After being a cadet at high school, he enlisted in the C.M.F., or Militia Forces as a Private (O/N 304107) on 9th March 1932. He served in the 3rd Field Ambulance, re-engaging twice, and rose through the ranks to become a Sergeant on 4th October, 1939. During this time, he married Evelyn Round on 12th November, 1938, and they set up home in Prospect.
On 1st September, 1939, German Forces invaded Poland and as a consequence, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later, after their ultimatum to withdraw from Poland expired. As a Commonwealth Dominion, Australia by default was now also at war with Germany. Germany formed an Axis Alliance with Italy and in August, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, including Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic States. France was to fall in the middle of the following year and the war continued, primarily between the European Axis Powers and the British Empire.
With Australia now at war with the European Axis powers, Solomon Rickard (Sol) entered a 90-day training camp at Warradale on 10th March, 1941. His official number was changed from S304107 to S31002 on 7th June and on 9th August 1941 he was promoted to T/WOII. On 4th September, he was posted to another 90-day camp, this time at Wayville. During the camp he was promoted WOI, effective 25th September. At the completion of this period of training, he was called up and commenced Full Time Duty (FTD) in 4 Military District (4MD) in the CMF, effective from 2nd December, 1941.
At the outbreak of war with Japan on 9th December, 1941, Emperor Hirohito began hostilities against Pacific democracies including Australia, the day after Japanese bombers struck at Hawaii. By then, Solomon was already on fulltime war service duty.
On 19th February, 1942 mainland Australia came under attack for the first time when Japanese forces mounted two air raids on Darwin. The two attacks, which were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor ten weeks earlier, involved aircraft which were launched from four Japanese aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea, followed by a second raid of land-based bombers. The first attack hit shipping in the harbour, infrastructure in the town and the military and civil aerodromes. The two raids killed 235 people and left many more wounded.
Later that year WO1 Rickard was ordered to move from South Australia to Queensland Lof C (Line of Communication) and was entrained on 29th July, 1942. On 12th August he was embarked on the US troop transport H.S. Cremer at Brisbane and sailed with the 10th Australian Casualty Clearing Station (10 CCS) for Milne Bay. Sol disembarked in the New Guinea war zone nine days later, on 21st August. As he stepped ashore onto the base wharf at Gill Gill in Milne Bay, he was about to have his first taste of war at the age of 36.
Milne Bay is located on the far eastern tip of the island of New Guinea. It is surrounded on three sides by extremely high mountains and the low-lands between these and the sea are a swamp-ridden haven for malaria. Despite these difficulties, the bay’s geographic location held a strategic advantage that offset the negative issues. Its position made possible the command of the sea and air surrounding eastern New Guinea and the Coral Sea. The bay itself was exceptionally long and deep and surrounded by extremely high mountains, providing a large, safe harbour. For this reason, US General Douglas MacArthur ordered the secret construction of an allied base there, which began in June 1942. That month American airfield construction troops arrived, along with the Australian 55th Militia Battalion as their protection from the enemy. The Japanese had landed on the north coast of New Guinea in preparation to attack Port Moresby over the Owen Stanley Ranges, via the Kokoda Trail. An airfield at Milne Bay would give the allied aircraft the added advantage of harassing the enemy by following the coast, without having to climb over the mountains.
By late June, a much larger force of Australians arrived at Milne Bay to bolster the defence of the airfields. This consisted of the 9th, 25th and 61st Militia Battalions comprising the 7th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier John Field.
On 21st July, the first of three airstrips being built at Milne Bay was completed and the following day the first of the Australian P40 Kittyhawks arrived. By the end of July, Kittyhawk fighters of 75 and 76 Squadrons RAAF joined in to defend the airfields, along with Hudson bombers of 6 and 32 Squadrons.
Crucially, the base’s development had been concealed from the Japanese long enough for it to near completion. Once they discovered its existence, a task force was despatched to seize what both sides considered a strategic base. However, through faulty intelligence and vague air reconnaissance, Japanese Admiral Mikawa who ordered the operation, grossly underestimated the defenders’ strength.
In mid-August, the 18th Brigade of the AIF arrived, including the 2/9th, 2/10th and 2/12th Battalions and a battery of the 2/5th Field Regiment, followed soon after by Sol and the 10 CCS. At this point the overall command of the base was now given to Major General Cyril Clowes.
The Battle of Milne Bay began on the night of August 25th, 1942, when a Japanese force, escorted by cruisers and destroyers, landed about 1200 men on the northern coast of Milne Bay. Earlier in the day, two squadrons of Kittyhawk fighters had attacked Japanese barges travelling down the coast, loaded with troops bound for the invasion, stranding them on an island where they could take no part in the battle.
The initial Japanese landing was condemned from the start, with the troops coming ashore at the wrong beach, about seven kilometres from where they had intended. This made movement across the terrain of the narrow coastal strip agonisingly slow. With the thick mud they encountered and constant bad weather, things only got worse as they suffered attacks by the RAAF from the airfields nearby whenever the conditions broke. The Australians were consequently able to block Japanese access to the airfields by stopping them at the approaches along the coastal flats. Nevertheless, the Japanese continued advancing over the next three days and pushed the Australians of the 61st Battalion back to the edge of their base at No.3 Airfield, where they were relieved by the 2/10th. The Japanese consolidated their position while awaiting the arrival of 800 reinforcements, as the Australians prepared their defensive line along their new airstrip. The Japanese launched an all-out assault across the airstrip after midnight on August 30th. The attack was a disaster, repulsed by the 25th and 61st Battalions and the Australian artillery, causing a high casualty rate to the Japanese marines.
The failure of the Japanese attack across No.3 Airstrip was the turning point of the Milne Bay Battle, with the Australian infantry pushing the enemy back along the north shore throughout the following week with the 2/12th Battalion.
Once the invaders were forced back beyond their original landing point, the remnants of the Japanese task force were evacuated on the night of 4th and 5th September. The withdrawal operation was completed by 6th September and the Japanese ships departed, leaving Milne Bay secure from enemy attack for the rest of the war.
The allied victory was the first on-land success against the Japanese in the Pacific war and enabled them to keep an important base that aided the allied war effort for the rest of the conflict in the south-western Pacific.
Although the comprehensive defeat of the Japanese at Milne Bay resulted in them incurring a death toll approaching 700, it was at a cost to the allies of 171 killed and a further 216 wounded, during the twelve days of fighting following the enemy landing. The 10 Aust CCS’s WO Sol Rickard and his staff received most of these casualties in order to attend to their treatment, while all the time enduring the difficult working conditions in Milne Bay’s persistent rain, and resultant thick mud.
After the battle, the allies continued to develop the base in support of the counter-offensive along the northern coast of Papua and New Guinea. But the 10 AUS CCS continued to fight a much different battle. There’s was against the menace of Malaria MT infections, Bush Typhus and several other tropical diseases that had broken out in epidemic proportions.
On 24th November, 1942, WO Rickard was enlisted in the AIF, transferring from the AMF and with a subsequent change in his army official number to SX27382. This was also the official date for his commencement of full-time war service in the AIF.
With the New Year came the birth of first son, John Maxwell, on January 31st, 1943. However, as it was to turn out, his wife, Evelyn, back at home in Adelaide, was unfortunately not destined to show him his new-born son for a good many months to come.
By 7th March, Sol himself had succumbed to Malaria MT and was transferred to the ‘X-list’. By 1st April he had recovered sufficiently from his diagnosed condition of both Malaria MT and Bush Typhus and was taken back on strength from 110 CCS (as a patient), effective 2nd April. (In April, 1943, the name of the 10th AUS CCS was changed to 110 AUS CCS).
Later in the year, on 3rd September he must have transferred around to Port Moresby, for it was reported that he had embarked from there on the troop transport Katoomba ‘for leave’, effective 30th August. On 1st September he disembarked from Katoomba back in Australia at Townsville, effectively ending his first period of service in Milne Bay.

After a period of almost three months leave home in South Australia where he was finally united with his wife, Evelyn and new-born son, John, now seven months old, Sol was back in Townsville. There he boarded a plane to return him to his unit in New Guinea. He deplaned in Milne Bay on 19th November, 1943 and officially rejoined the 110 CCS from leave the following day, thus beginning his second period of service in the Milne Bay war zone.
Early in the new year, General Douglas MacArthur’s ‘Operation Cartwheel’ began in the South Western Pacific. The strategy involved a plan by the American Commander to bypass and isolate the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul in New Britain, rather than attempting to capture the base, thus avoiding major concentrations of enemy forces and instead, aiming to sever Jap lines of supply and communication.
A ‘sub’ campaign, ‘Operation Brewer’ began on February 29th, 1944, with the landing of American forces in the Admiralty Islands to the North of New Guinea. The following month, New Ireland, to the north of New Britain, was occupied on March 20th and a landing at Aitape on the northern New Guinea coast was made in April. By May 18th, the Admiralty Islands campaign was over and the Japanese were effectively cut off from the north.
On 27th March 1944, WO Sol Rickard was discharged (on paper) from the A.I.F. ‘for the purpose of being appointed to commissioned rank’. Accordingly, he was appointed A/Lieutenant [in the AAMC (Misc)] on 28th March 1944 and on the same day, was appointed Adjutant, 110 AUS CCS (AIF).
By now, Milne Bay had become known as ‘MB US Base A’ by the Americans, with the Australian counterpart known as ‘MB Base Sub Area’. The airfields were now improved, a new wharf was built, there were repair facilities for PT boats, a destroyer base was created and a station hospital was constructed. In fact, Milne Bay, by now, had become busy as a staging area for the New Britain campaign.
Regardless of all this, the intolerable climate conditions prevailed. A meteorological record was set on April 29th, 1944, when 24 inches of rain fell on the base in a 24-hour period!
Early on May 24th, 1944, the 110 AUS CCS was embarked on the armed American steamer, Cape Neddick, in Milne Bay for passage to Brisbane, where the unit disembarked late on 28th May. The arrival of Sol’s CCS unit back in Australia brought to an end his second and last period of war service in Milne Bay.
For the time being, the 110 AUS CCS settled into a more composed phase based in Brisbane. However, on November 22nd, 1944, Lt S. Rickard developed bronchial pneumonia and was transferred to the X-List (viz. Evacuated on medical grounds beyond Regimental Aid Post and temporarily ceased to be on effective strength of unit). On December 5th he was recorded as being evacuated with his illness to 112(B) Military Hospital (AGH). By the 14th, he was abled to be evacuated to the Lady Wilson Red Cross Convalescent Home at Chelmer, (a suburb of Brisbane’s outer west), with the notation, ‘Incompletely resolved pneumonia’.
After spending Christmas 1944 quietly convalescing, Sol’s condition improved and he was transferred from the Lady Wilson Home, back to 112(B) Military Hospital on January 11th. Although it was considered his pneumonia was still ‘incompletely resolved’, Sol was discharged from 112(B) to return to his unit on January 15th, via the General Details Depot (GDD). Finally, he was recorded as ‘Marched on from 112(B) Mil Hosp and struck off X-List on January 23rd, 1945.
On March 24th, 1945, Sol embarked on the troop transport, Charles M. Russell, at Cairns, disembarking at Morotai 12-days later, on April 5th. This marked the beginning of his war service at Morotai and Tarakan.

Morotai, an oval-shaped island about 60klms north to south, has a mountainous interior and is covered with rain forests. It forms part of the Halmahera Group in the Moluccas, to the west of West Papua. The Japanese had a small garrison of 500 men there but by now had abandoned an airfield that they had begun work on. A much larger force was based on nearby Halmahera, with the intention for them to be used if an American landing was attempted on Morotai.
On September 15th, 1944, a large American assault on the island began, with the intention of protecting the left flank of their advance from New Guinea to the southern Philippines. General MacArthur continued his policy of attacking the weaker of the two enemy positions and use it as a base to isolate the larger force. The Americans only encountered relatively light opposition from the Japanese at their various landing points and by October 4th, Morotai was in their hands. Work on all the partially completed airfields advanced rapidly and by mid-October, all were operational. Regular Jap air raids gradually eased and eventually ended by March but scattered skirmishes with small Jap pockets continued for the rest of the war.
From April 1945, the island was also used by the Australian 1 Corps to mount its Borneo campaign. On April 5th, when Lt Rickard arrived with the 110 AUS CCS, his unit became part of the support force following in after the invasion of nearby Tarakan.
Tarakan, a small island off the north-east coast of Borneo, was a Dutch East Indies oilfield prior to WWII. Early in 1942, it was occupied by the Japanese who not only wanted its oil but were also intent on using its airfield as a base for its strikes south. Three years later, the recapture of Tarakan was to be the first in a series of operations in and around Borneo, code named OBEO1. Troops were drawn mainly from the Australian 26th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier David Whitehead, when they arrived off Tarakan in the early hours of May 1st. Following a heavy air and naval bombardment of enemy shore positions, two battalions made an amphibious landing from American LVTs on two separate beachheads. The first wave of the 2/48th Battalion pushed north along the “Anzac Highway” and rapidly secured enemy positions as well as oil storage tanks. By the end of the day they held the hill to the west of Tarakan Town. The second wave moved ashore from the troop transport HMAS Manoora and by nightfall the Australians held a 2.6 klm beachhead that extended 1.8 klm inland. Medical support from the 110 AUS CCS had landed by now and was setting-up a position to handle the inevitable trickle of wounded from back behind the front.
The initial light Jap resistance was attributed to a heavy pre-landing bombardment, forcing enemy defenders to abandon their positions and pillboxes. Despite severe congestion of landing craft (LSTs) and vehicles on the beachhead, the 26th Brigade advanced east into Tarakan Town and north towards the airstrip. At this point, the Australians began encountering an increase in Japanese resistance as they moved inland. Tarakan’s airstrip was attacked by the 2/24th Battalion on the night of May 2nd but proved far more difficult to take than expected. The airfield was not finally secured until May 5th. The capture achieved the 26th Battalion’s main task that was required of it. However, the Japanese still controlled Tarakan’s rugged interior, prompting the AMF commander, General Thomas Blamey, to direct that clearing the rest of the island of the enemy “should proceed in a deliberate manner” until completely achieved.
Approximately 1,700 Jap troops were dug into positions in the centre of the island in the densely forested hills. Use of heavy equipment was limited in the thick Tarakan jungle, meaning the infantry was involved in costly, close quarters fighting, with valuable support from artillery and air strikes. The south-eastern portion of Tarakan was concentrated on from May 7th but advancing troops met strong, unexpected Japanese resistance, halting their attack. Again, close-in air support was requested, with heavy bombing and napalm drops proving effective. The Japanese were at last forced to withdraw with a large number of casualties, enabling the Australians to reach Tarakan’s eastern shore by May 16th.
As this significant victory unfolded on Tarakan, the Australians fighting there learned that they shared the success with the news that the war in Europe had ended soon after the German surrender documents were signed on 8th May, 1945.
During this particular operation, the Battalion unfortunately suffered 20 killed, with another 46 wounded. One of them, Cpl John Mackey, was killed, single-handedly capturing three Jap machinegun posts on May 11th and was posthumously awarded the VC. Elsewhere on Tarakan, the 2/48th Battalion’s Lt Tom ‘Diver’ Derrick VC and soldiers from the 2/23rd Battalion formed part of an attempt to gain control of a key position in the hills. On May 22nd, he and his platoon were successful in capturing a well-defended knoll, codenamed ‘Freda’. However, the following day when he broke cover to check on his men, he was hit by machinegun fire, mortally wounding him. Lt Derrick VC died of his wounds on May 24th, while being treated in Ward 1 of the 110 CCS. He was buried in the 110 CCS cemetery at Tarakan but was later transferred to the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia.
The Japanese garrison on Tarakan was steadily defeated, with the scattering of survivors abandoning their positions in the hills and by June 15th, had withdrawn to the coast to the north of the island. With the last organised Jap resistance encountered on June 19th, Brigadier Whitehead declared the island secure on June 21st.
Before his death on Tarakan, Lt Derrick, who had actually been awarded his Victoria Cross 18 months previously, as a result of his historic actions in the fighting back then at Sattelberg, Finschhafen, had commented in an interview that “he had never struck anything so tough as the Japanese on Tarakan”.
Once the fighting had subsided, a total of 225 Australians had been counted as killed as a result of the fierce Tarakan campaign. Relative to the number of troops involved, it was the most costly of all the series of OBEO operations in and around Borneo. Over 1,500 of the island’s Japanese defenders were killed in comparison.
Lt Sol Rickard and his medical unit, the 110 AUS CCS, served in Tarakan right from when their LST and the main invasion force arrived by sea off the island in the early hours of May 1st. Through Ward 1 of the 110th passed the majority of serious surgical cases during the early days of the Tarakan campaign. But sadly, many other Australians died there. However, numerous critically wounded men were saved, indeed the 110 CCS saved a higher percentage of abdominal-wound cases than any other CCS or AGH when soldiers with similar injuries were received. Of note is that only seven Australian nursing sisters served on Tarakan during the battle to recapture the island.
Reconstruction of the airfield, heavily damaged during the pre-invasion bombardment, had begun immediately after the first few days of the initial landing. However, the desperate effort to get the airstrip back into operation proved more difficult than expected and it took eight weeks before it was finally opened on June 28th. Although it was too late by then for it to play any role in the landings at Brunei, Labuan or Balikpapan, the Tarakan airfield was able to support operations in the latter up until the end of the war. The island’s oil facilities were also unable to be returned to operational condition before Japan had surrendered on 15th August 1945.
Things moved slowly for Sol at the 110 CCS after the official surrender ceremony of Japan took place in Tokyo Harbour aboard the American battleship, USS Missouri, on 2nd September. There were still patients to be looked after on Tarakan, so his unit couldn’t be shipped out immediately at war’s end. However, steps to return him to Australia picked-up when on November 1st, his records show he was “Marched out to SA L of C area RR and GDD” (General Details Depot). The following day, he embarked ex Tarakan on the ship City of Philadelphia for Moratai. Sol must have found that American transport ship laying at anchor an attractive sight from his LCI, as he began his short transfer out to her from the Tarakan shoreline.
Lt Rickard disembarked in Moratai on November 5th, thus ending his 6-month period of war service on the island of Tarakan. Then began his frustrating wait for his turn in an aircraft back to Australia. Six days later, on November 11th, Sol was emplaned from Moratai for his return home to Australia, carrying with him, 208 total demobilization points that he had accrued from his wartime service.
For the next few weeks, Sol rested and recuperated in Queensland, waiting to be entrained for the long journey back to South Australia. On November 16th, he was taken off strength (TOS) ex the 110th AUS CCS.
At last back home in Adelaide, several administration activities took place for Sol on November 20th, 1945. First, he was ‘marched in’ from SA Leave and Transit Depot (Hampstead) for termination of appointment. Then he officially relinquished his appointment as Adjutant of the 110th CCS (AIF). Also, his appointment as an officer was terminated, with his last day of full-time duty being November 20th. Finally, he was ‘marched out’ to the SA Discharge Depot for termination of his service in the Australian Army on 20th November 1945.
On the following day, November 21st, 1945, he was transferred to the Reserve of Officers List (Australian Army Medical Corps) (SA), an administrative procedure to retain his expertise, if required, in that particular field in the army.
At last Sol was a ‘free man’!

Sol spent his first Christmas in a long while with his wife, Evelyn, and young son, John, in 1945 and finally enjoyed a well-earned rest. The following year, he returned to the electrical trade, the profession he left way back in 1940 as an electrical fitter.
On February 11th, 1947, he and Evelyn had a second son, Graham, as the family settled back into life at Prospect.
With his children attending Blair Athol Primary School, just over the road, Sol spent several periods on the school council and held the position of Committee Chairman for the years 1955 to 1959.
From 1955 to 1963, British nuclear tests were conducted at Maralinga in the Woomera Prohibited Area in northern South Australia. Sol was involved in the preparations required to activate an eventual seven atomic bomb tests that were performed there.
He became an Electrical Inspector for the Electricity Trust of SA in the 50s and early 60s, then in the mid-60s, he was appointed the SA Licencing Inspector for electricians, a position he proudly held until his retirement in the early seventies.
Solomon Rickard, veteran of the Milne Bay and Tarakan campaigns of WWII with the 110th AUST CCS (AIF), died on 11th August 1973, the day he should have been celebrating his 67th birthday.

Compiled by David Rickard


Honours & Awards:
1939-45 Star
Pacific Star
War Medal 1939-45
Australia Service Medal 1939-45
Australian Service Medal 1945-75 with Clasp ‘PNG’


From:
Personal service records of S.G. Rickard
WWII – Australia Declares War on Japan – Inter-Allied Review (15/12/1941) ibiblio
National Archives of Australia – The Bombing of Darwin – Fact Sheet 195
Remembering 1942: Milne Bay/The Australian War Memorial – Dr Peter Londey
Japanese Landing and Defeat at Milne Bay/The Anzac Portal
Nicholas Anderson (Australian Army History Unit) The Battle of Milne Bay
DVA 2019 – Milne Bay – DVA Anzac Portal
Battle of Morotai – Wikipedia
Battle of Morotai 15/9 to 4/10/1944 ‘History of War’
1 Australia Corps “Report on Operations Borneo Campaign 1941 -b 1945”
Tarakan – The Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial – Tarakan, Borneo 1945-10-09. 110 CCS
DVA – Anzac Portal – “Derrick’s Show”