Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

With the war in progress, and the outlook being rather grim as far as Britain was concerned, I joined the Australian army and left for training at Naval Base camp.
I'd like to say here that for some months previous to this my back had given no trouble whatsoever so my medical examination revealed no signs of this disability and I passed A1. This step meant leaving Nellie to look after 5 children unaided, no mean task. Frank had been born in July 1939 and was a babe of some 10 months by the time our training period was completed and we were ready to move overseas as a unit of the 2nd Eleventh Infantry. Our final training was at Northam camp, and I well remember that on visiting days when the wives and children were brought up by train from Perth young Frank used to sob his heart out on boarding the train for the return trip, and his mum had the job of trying to console him on the trip back home.
Embarkation day arrived and as usual the news got back to Perth and by the time we disembarked at Fremantle Wharf there were crowds of wives and well-wishers lined up behind the barricades to farewell us. Several thousand troops embarked on troop ships and headed out of Gage Roads and our journey to the Middle East began.
We had one or two scares and our escorts formed us up in single line whilst they circled continuously around us. We were at boat stations but luckily that's all that happened. The war in Europe wasn't going too well and news we got of impending evacuation of Greece by our troops forced our convoy to lay up for some ten days in Ceylon harbour whilst matters were sorted out. Originally, we were planned to go to Britain but now plans had to be revised. Finally it was decided to drop us off at Palestine, Gaza being the training area. Owing to the confined sleeping conditions quite a number of troops, myself included, had contracted fever and being unable to travel with the remainder our journey along the Suez Canal had to be in ambulance vans. We spent some time at a rest centre on the border of Egypt and when well enough to resume the journey up to a camp just a few miles north of Gaza in Palestine where our training was to be continued, and it was there that we met and talked with stragglers who had eluded the Germans and escaped from Greece. Our training finished, we were dispatched to Egypt for desert duties about the time Rommel was having so much success in this area. The days and weeks passed, the heat was intense, temperatures up to 125o and severe dust storms were things we became adjusted to the drone of bombers passing overhead on their run down to the port of Tewfik dropped the occasional bomb out onto the stores but apart from that it was uneventful.
One funny event took place whilst stationed in this camp. It was customary for the wags to be engaged on duties in the stores and of course being noted for their thievery they were always trying to get away with army clothing. One of these chappies had secreted a bundle of shirts and underclothing on his person by wrapping them around his body then endeavouring to cover them up with the black robes common to the tribesmen. However, he was too greedy and the prominent bulge around his waist gave the game away, and some bright-eyed guard on duty checking them out through the gate noticed it and he was hauled in for inspection. It was quite a strip and the result was he was detailed for punishment. But this man owned a donkey which he used for transport and the ass was impounded for the night in a wire compound which it was our unit's duty to guard, so there we were keeping guard all night on a sole donkey in the "pokey". We figured it would make good copy for the "Daily Mail".
Towards the end of the year, word came that we were to move up to Syria and so a platoon of us loaded up our trucks and travelled through the 90 mile desert, on past Gaza and the old camping site and as far north as Beirut where we headed inland, climbing the steep mountain roads until we finally reached Ali some ten miles along the route to Damascus. This town, we were told, was the summer home of the wealthy inhabitants of Beirut, and when the hot season was on they evacuated the plains and settled in the cooler weather of Ali. The Army headquarters had occupied the major buildings for their own use and our duties were to mount guard day and night over the contents of these places. The burning temperatures of Egypt soon gave way to heavy falls of snow and subzero temperatures which we found hard to put up with. Our platoon was doing a company's work and it was possible to see one's name on the roster for 5 consecutive days of guard duty plus night shifts too, and on what was your day off you finished up doing a shift in the kitchens, peeling spuds etc.
The news of the Jap, on his way through the Islands, Singapore, java, etc. and reaching out for Australia was anything but good and we all worried a lot about it. Anyway, eventually, the order came through that we were to be shifted back home. What welcome news, and so with the passage of time we found ourselves billeted in private homes in Adelaide. I had a nice home in the suburbs with a business man, his wife and children and a maid. Our unit at this time was the first contingent to return home from overseas duty and the welcome from the South Australians was tremendous. I had spent a few hours at home with the family before returning to the ship and completing the journey to Adelaide. We settled down to normal duties, route marches up Mt Lofty, etc., interspersed with visits to the canteen where the girls on duty roster did everything possible to make us feel at home. After some time leave was arranged for us and so started our train trip to and from Perth. Five times in all I, with others, covered that stretch of country and none of them very comfortable.
One journey, I well recall, when we were packed in so well with our equipment that I finished up with my head inside the toilet door. Needless to say there wasn't .much sleep that night. Another time I had the "pleasure" of reclining on the luggage rack and a third crossing was in cattle trucks bedded down in straw. Well, time went by and finally our unit received orders to proceed up to Brisbane, Queensland where we embarked on a vessel to complete the journey to Moreton Bay Island in the mouth of the Brisbane River. About this time the Japs had taken the Islands up north and fighting was currently centered on New Guinea. It seemed possible to the Big Brass that some attempt might be made to effect a landing of troops on the Queensland coast so we spent weeks patrolling a lonely stretch of beach about 10 miles in length from our area up to an occupied lighthouse, then back again. We never sighted the enemy on anyone of these jaunts. After months on this island we received orders to report back to Melbourne for an escort job. We comprised a platoon of about 70 men and our job turned out to be that of guarding the Jap Consul, his suite and a lot of civilian internees on board a ship from Australia to Portuguese East Africa. We dossed down in tents in a Park at the back of the Zoo in Melbourne, and then began the miserable job of preparing for our coming journey.
The weather was vile, with bitterly cold winds and driving rain. Eventually the time of departure arrived and we marched down to the docks and our first glimpse of the ship which was to be our home for the next weeks. She was floodlit from stem to stern, and the word Diplomat had been painted on each side in 70 foot letters. Our course was directly south passing through all normal shipping lanes with the temperature rapidly dropping until we expected to see icebergs any day or night. We often wondered whether our floating palace would see our destination which was to be Lorenquo Markees, north of Durban. There proved to be no untoward incidents apart from rough seas which played havoc with the crockery in the dining room. The attendances at meal times was poor and our own roster strength was cut by half through sea sickness. We were pleased to finally tie up our journey's end, where we disembarked our Jap mob and after flood lights and distinguishing insignia were removed we crept down the coast in total darkness to Durban in South Africa. The change took some getting used to, but luckily it was a short return to our next port of call where we left our vessel and proceeded ashore to spend the next few days waiting for some transport coming from the Middle East theatre of war to pick us up and drop us off at Cape Town on the southern tip of this continent. Our vessel this time was a troop carrier who was taking a load of Tommies, their wives and children back to England. Leaving the ship here we went into camp once more and it was made known to us that this same ship was torpedoed off the Freetown coast as she steamed up the west side of Africa and just two days journey after leaving Cape Town. We spent 10 days in all at this very pleasant City and then we re-embarked on another vessel which was part of a convoy carrying, all told, some 25,000 air force and army personnel. We dropped in at Bombay and from there we shot off on our own without any escort for Fremant1e. This ship was an American converted cruiser and capable of great speed. We had a Yankee skipper and crew and the food naturally was beaut too. The last few days on board the news filtered out that West Australian members of the contingent were to be given immediate leave on tying up in Fremantle harbour, but when we docked the order was rescinded and altered to Melbourne so, as none of us had had any communication with our families for some three whole months, some of us felt that we should at least have the satisfaction of phoning home and letting our folks know the score. I, with three others of the same mind, approached the C.O. and asked permission to proceed under escort to the wharf where we could telephone home and put everyone's minds at rest. To cut a long story short we were put in charge of a sergeant who hung around us whilst we made our calls. As I wasn't able to get first priority of a phone I talked with a few tally clerks and from them learnt of a simple means of exit from the barbed wire enclosure. Finally, by dodging in and out of the storage sheds, I found my way up to the overhead pass across the railway lines and casually strolled past two sentries mounted on the right of way who were so busy talking that they paid no heed to the solitary soldier. After reaching the station, I made my way onto a Perth bound train and eventually home to Carlisle.
There was great rejoicing at seeing everyone again, but of course the stay was short lived, so the following day I reported back to Claremont camp and after fronting the Major was accommodated in the clink. Twenty four hours later I was hauled in front of the C.O. who read me the riot act, all about deserting my unit etc. etc. and finally fined me two days pay. From then I spent about 10 days in camp but with leave to come home each day unti1 transport was arranged for me to Melbourne to presumably join my unit, but funnily enough as I was marching out with a group to go on a train my W.A. blokes entered by another gate having been granted leave. This unsettled me somewhat so as soon as we got to Adelaide I asked to see the C.O. of the Holding Camp there and told him my tale. Without any hesitation, he said "I suppose you'd like to rejoin your mates on 1eave", so I said "yes" and without any further fuss he fixed me up with a return leave pass to W.A. To the surprise of the sergeant on parade at Claremont I was back there one week after marching out and was granted 1eave, so back home I went to everyone's delight. We spent the leave and then another 10 days reporting daily until room was finally found for us on a convoy going East, all in all about a month on leave. Returning to the East, I with others was drafted into a Censorship Unit and settled down to duties at a camp on the outskirts of Brisbane. The constant sitting down played up with the return of arthritis and I spent some time in hospital where, in spite of treatment, I failed to respond and was - after a lengthy period of convalescence transferred to a similar unit operating in the G.P.O. Perth. So I came back to the West, where I was later sent to a surgeon who examined me thoroughly and classed me as D unfit for duties and so was eventually discharged. On getting to this point I passed before a board who queried me on what awaited me in civvy life and on telling them I couldn't return to my former employment I was given the chance to apply for training as a carpenter for a 6 month period at Leederville and after passing out there I reported to the Public Works Department and was placed at Belmont where the group erected some 600 houses, timber framed and brick veneer.