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Biography A A Ryan, Sergeant, 80 Squadron RAAF, SN 65266

Early Years

The only son of Michael Patrick Ryan and Margaret Clare Ryan (nee Doohan), Arthur Augustine Ryan was born in Singleton in NSW on 27 October 1906. He had two older sisters; Margaret Mary known as ‘Lil’ and Rita Monica Dunn (nee Ryan.)

Arthur attended St Patrick’s Primary School in Singleton and then Marist Brothers’ High School, West Maitland until second year. From 1920 to 1927 he underwent compulsory military training and reached the rank of Sergeant (acting) in the 13th Batt. (Singleton and West Maitland) This previous military training was noted in his March 1942 application to join the RAAF. Arthur was applying to enlist as a Drill Instructor.

At the time of applying to the RAAF, Arthur lived in Asquith NSW with his wife and daughter. He had married Marie Therese Kennedy in 1939 and their daughter, Margaret Anne Martin (nee Ryan) was born in November 1940. Arthur noted in his application his work experience of 4 years at McIlraths, where he was ‘in charge of despatch department.’ In later documents he would summarise this as ‘Grocer’s Traveller.’

Arthur was ‘well mannered’ with a neat appearance, a ‘good, clean type.’ His application progressed and he was invited to an interview, medical, and trade testing to be held on 15 April 1942 at the No.2 Recruiting Centre in Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Arthur was told to bring several documents including his employer’s approval. This he did in the form of a letter from the staff superintendent of McIlraths who gave Arthur a glowing character reference and noted that this was ‘to assist him in his effort to join the RAAF for which worthy object we commend him.’

Enlistment and Training, 1942 to 1943

Arthur was informed that his application was successful via a telegram that bore the impressive heading ‘On His Majesty’s Service.’

He enlisted on 26 May 1942 and was assigned the service number 65266 and the rank of corporal. He had passed the trade test for a Drill Instructor and this was noted as his role on mustering. He was 36 years and 6 months old, making him much older than the average recruit and older than all the fellow Airmen from 80 Squadron whose deaths he would later record in his wartime diary.

Arthur underwent his Rookie training at Bradfield Park, NSW from 26 May until 20 June 1942. He went directly from there to complete his Drill Instructor’s course in Shepparton, VIC, which he passed with distinction in July 1942. Upon completion of this training he was stationed as a Drill Instructor in Canberra until 23 November 1942.

From November 1942 to January 1943, Arthur completed further training as an Aerodrome Defence Instructor. This training was conducted in Hamilton, VIC at the Armament School.

From January 1943, until his posting to 80 Squadron in October 1943, Arthur worked as an Aerodrome Defence Instructor (ADI). His unit was No. 6 Recruit Depot, in Sandgate, QLD. It was during his time that Arthur was to learn of the birth of his first son, Michael Francis Ryan, on 6 March 1943.

New Bicycle

According to family lore, personal information was not allowed to be disclosed in telegrams to the Airmen. This lead to the news of the arrival of his son being conveyed to Arthur via a cryptic telegram.

“New bicycle arrived, pump attached.’

During his overseas service, and even as early as his posting to 80 Squadron in Townsville, Arthur must have wondered whether he’d see his children again, let alone live to have any more. Arthur wrote in his diary that the first fatality of 80 Squadron was ‘Mick, drowned Bluewater 3/12/43.’ This death was the first of many that Arthur writes of in his diary.

The stories that survived many years of retelling of Arthur’s time in the RAAF centred not on his active service, but rather on his time as an ADI. One such story is that Arthur was adamant that under no circumstances was a rifle to be pointed at another ‘recruit’, even in jest, and even if you believed it wasn’t loaded. After demonstrating how to disassemble, clean and reassemble a rifle, he pointed the supposedly-empty gun to the ground and fired. In one such demonstration a bullet shot into the dry earth. As the crack rang out and the dust rose, we can assume there might have been nervous laughter and some admiration for this ADI who had managed to hide a bullet in the barrel, making his safety warning dramatically clear to the green recruits. Arthur would confide at the end of this retelling, that he had not deliberately hidden the bullet. It was a one-off mistake that, nevertheless, did prove his rule.

Aspirations

Arthur spent most of 1943 as an ADI, yet we know he had aspirations beyond this role. His rank was still corporal but his acting rank was Sergeant when he applied in May 1943 to be a commissioned officer. He passed the testing and was recommended by the Commanding Officer of his unit, J. A. Adam who wrote:

‘This sergeant is a good A.D.I, if commissioned, consider he would make a very suitable Air Defence Officer.’

The three other officers reviewing Arthur’s application did not recommend him, noting in part his ‘lack of education’. The overall decision was that Arthur was not recommended for a commission. It was further stipulated that no repeat application would be allowed for 6 months, by which time Arthur would already be posted to 80 Squadron and about to see active duty.

80 Squadron, Townsville

Many of Arthur’s diary entries from this time are brief. Noting ‘usual duties’ without further elaboration. More frequent and more detailed entries keep track of ‘games’ measured in pounds and shillings and a running tally of the total. It is well known that Arthur loved to bet, be it a flutter on the horses or a game of Two-Up. It is not surprising then to see that on 11 January 1944 Arthur wrote happily ‘Started 1st game for 1944.’ It’s not clear how long the games usually lasted, but we can surmise that it was usually longer than half an hour, from Arthur’s entry in February of ‘Only ½ hour play.’

If he thought this short playing time was bad, just imagine Arthur’s disappointment on 4 February when there was ‘no game’ at all. Instead, time in camp was spent packing timber, loading drums of oil and Officers’ spirits for embarkation. A highlight of that day would have been receiving word from Marie that ‘MICHAEL TOOK 20 STEPS.’

All these years later we can only wonder at what other news came from home and what it meant to the receiver. Whether these letters provided solace and comfort and were read and reread until the paper thinned. Or if they were quickly cast aside to focus on the task at hand.

News from home was not always joyful. A case in point is the entry: ‘Wire from Marie re Charlie’s death.’ Charles Dunn was Arthur’s brother-in-law. Married to Arthur’s sister Rita, Charlie had three young boys who would now grow up without a father.

On 5 February the ‘loading was in full swing.’ There was, however, time for a game. Arthur’s cumulative total now standing at 41 pounds, 3 shillings and 6 pence.

New Guinea, February to August 1944

80 Squadron broke camp on 9 February 1944. Arthur noting that he had spent ‘exactly 4 months here.’ They sailed north, arriving in Cairns on 11 February and delivered 400 tons of oil. It wasn’t a pleasant sail.  Arthur wrote ‘Lavatory torn off our boat by Oil Tanker’ and then noted that they had eaten ‘All meals in the rain.’

The reality of the situation was dawning on Arthur and he reflected this realisation in his diary ‘it’s on from now.’ They continued north with ‘2 boats and 2 corvettes leaving the convoy for Moresby’. A submarine was sighted ‘but it was our own. Phew!’ Yes, phew indeed Arthur.

Anchoring in Milne Bay on 14 February 1944 Arthur observed the ‘beautiful scenery’ and ‘hundreds of warships of all types.’ Curiously, there was also a ‘photo salon on board.’

On 16 February Arthur hitchhiked 7 lorries and walked 2 miles to arrive at 10 Signals Unit. Here he ‘awakened Marty. What a surprise he got.’ Martin Kennedy (RAAF Corporal, SN 74586) was Arthur’s brother-in-law, and one of Marie’s older brothers. Two boys from the Hunter Valley could hardly not be surprised to see each other in New Guinea, at war with the Japanese. Arthur doesn’t give us any clues about what they discussed or the war stories they told or the news from home that they exchanged. Only sharing with us his ‘hope to see him again before going North.’

This surprise family reunion mirrors another family story that would not occur for 58 years, with a variation on the wartime element, of course. In April 2002, two of Arthur’s grandchildren, cousins Craig Langton and Helen Ryan would run into each other at Lone Pine in Turkey, commemorating ANZAC Day. Each knowing the other was there, but without a meeting place or time set, they found each other in a crowd of thousands. It makes one wonder about the ties that bind us. The cosmic coincidences that draw us to our kin, even when, or perhaps especially when, we are far from home and other family.

When 80 Squadron left Milne Bay on 17 February it was ‘all lit up like Luna Park.’ Arthur mused ‘and Sydney still Blackout. What a laugh!’

The Squadron continued on the move to Lae and then on to Nadzab. In March they broke camp and headed for Cape Gloucester. Alongside quite a few entries of ‘usual duties’, Arthur notes many accidents and fatalities. His entry on 6 April 1944 has a different, more personal, tone.

‘My good friend, F/O Regan, great guy, went to rest in the way he would have wished – down with his Kite into the drink.’

Flying Officer Lynden John Ambrose Regan died in a Kittyhawk A29-472 flying accident. The ‘Kite’ was being tested after an overhaul. The engine stalled and it crashed into the water two miles north of Cape Gloucester in New Britain. Lynden was 22. His body was not recovered from ‘the drink’. (Source: VWMA.org.au)

Not long after this, 80 Squadron travels to Finchaven. They sight Admiralty Islands and are ‘handed secret operation order for whole of 78 wing.’ Arthur notes they are in real Japanese waters now, so they should ‘expect anything.’ The convoy splits and proceeds to different destinations. 80 Squadron heads for a landing beach named Persecution, ‘how appropriate’ Arthur thinks.

Sunday 23 April 1944

One of the longest and most dramatic entries in Arthur’s wartime diary describes 80 Squadron landing at Persecution. I’ll let Arthur tell it:

‘Sighted land about 0400 hrs. Arose 0400hrs.

F/O Knight, self and party 20 will be 1st off and will proceed to airstrip to select campsite.

Sunday at approx. 6.30 as daylight arrived, the show as we were to see it, started.

Impossible to describe. I will just remember it as a motion picture version of a terrible

Navy bombardment come true. Guns from about 40 types of boats opened up continual fire on three islands and the mainland. Then our dive bombers came along.

What they did was a gem. In a short time the whole of the islands were ablaze.

Landing barges by the hundreds were now moving towards the shore with their precious cargoes of human lives, the U.S.A’s 6th Army. Then came our turn to land.

All opposition was over then. We had to wade through water up to our necks carrying equipment. N/c Brooks was the 1st R.A.A.F ashore, then war correspondent, F/O Knight A.D.O then myself and commandos. Remainder stopped until a landing point was made by bulldozers.

Javanese who were slaves to the Japs were slaughtered by our fire.

They were heaped up in piles six or seven feet high. Stench was awful. We advance Party then proceeded to airstrip - others remained on beach.’

The landing is a success. ‘Bulldozers working right through the night’ ensure that within 24 hours of repairs starting on the landing strip, 3 Douglas planes are able to land. Later the Squadron would receive a ‘Letter of congratulations from Group H.Q. also General McArthur on landing effort.’

Heavy rain sees ‘all gear floating around’ and forces the troops to move to a new camp site. Arthur records many ‘prangs’ and ‘crashed Kites’ during May. As the deaths mount, Arthur lamented, in a diary entry on 21 May 1944, the loss of ‘Yet another great guy’

 ‘L Mudge P/O goes down in the old “ship” that had carried him on many a successful mission. Terrible to think that we are talking with them now and in a few hours they lie hundreds of miles away under their Kite.’
 
Terrible indeed to think of so many lives lost. The Virtual War Museum confirms that “Pilot Officer Mudge 416879 of 80SQN RAAF was killed when Kittyhawk A29-536 was shot down at Maffin, New Guinea.”

Terrible also to consider the news of this loss reaching loved ones back home. The Private Casualty Advice notes read “Mrs. E. M. Mudge of Streaky Bay. has been notified that her elder son. PO Leith Chandler Mudge, lost his life on May 21 during air operations in Dutch New Guinea”

Only 25 when he died, Leith had enlisted in Adelaide. He’d married Doris Gillespie in 1941. Doris died that same year, leaving Leith’s mother as the only Mrs Mudge who could receive the terrible news of his death.

Given the amount of flying hours and the gruelling circumstances, the fatalities can hardly be unexpected. During May 1944, 80 Squadron breaks their own record for monthly flying hours clocking 1,740 hours.

June brings some relief and the opportunity to attend Mass and receive communion. For Arthur as a Catholic this was a welcome change. In May he had written of there being ‘three Squadrons and no RC padre.’ He noted without further comment ‘3 Protestant padres.’

During July 1944, as the maintenance crews left for Biak, Arthur received treatment for dermatitis and was taken to hospital in Moresby. Here he ‘met Sister Headberry, angel in disguise.’ Arthur does not improve sufficiently and on 25 July he is ‘told of being evacuated home. Whacko.’

While Arthur is in hospital, Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Tuohy from 80 Squadron arrives on 4 August. He has been shot through the chest. He tells Arthur of ‘ the butcher of LAC Watterson, Wilson, Jones and Phillips.’

The official records verify this diary entry. “5 Airmen from 80 SQN were shot by Japanese snipers on Biak Island, Dutch New Guinea, 4 were killed & 1 was seriously injured - LAC Colin Keith Tuohy 48584 - discharged from the RAAF in 1946. Killed were LAC Keith John Jones 70683 / LAC Ian McGregor Wilson 70714 / LAC Percy Kevin Watterson 77200 / LAC John Anderson Phillips 69659” (Source: VWMA.org.au)

The following day Arthur is told that he will be leaving ‘for good old Aussie’ on Sunday or Monday. On 6 August, Arthur starts his journey home in a ‘C54 (4 engined aluminium Douglas plane)’, finally landing in Gabett, Townsville. After much time in hospital, the medical board determined in November 1944 that Arthur is ‘permanently medically unfit’ and he is discharged with effect from 9 January 1945. Thus ended Arthur’s military service. What we know from his time is sourced from NAA, VWMA and in this particular case, Arthur’s war diary.

The paradox of war is writ large in Arthur’s diary. Amongst the entries counting deaths and noting the stench of decaying bodies and people ‘going troppo’, there is also a tally of ‘games’ and Two-Up wins.

There are descriptions of the vast terrain ‘Most beautiful scenery mountains, light green. Like moss covered. Resembling carpets overlapping.’ And lists, without embellishment, of nature ‘Butterflies, wild cherries, loquats, figs, cucumbers, bananas and water vines.’

Some nights there were ‘pictures’ watched in camp and other nights there were air raid alarms. There were visits to Fuzzy Wuzzy Villages and fishing, other days there were reports of the shooting of ‘three Japs as they surfed.’ There were also letters from home. ‘Four from Marie and 1 from Lil,’ and there was also clearly time to write in his diary. Which raises the question – who was Arthur writing for?

It was 1944, so Arthur wasn’t planning on publishing his diary on the internet. You’d be forgiven for your miscalculation if you thought none of 80 Squadron would live to see the dawn of the digital age. Flight Lieutenant Kenneth ‘Brian’ Ines Smith of 80 Squadron died in 2011 of natural causes. According to his death notice in the Adelaide Advisor he was 90 years old when he died. (Source VWMA) Brian lived long enough to click on the Wiki link to 80 Squadron RAAF and google his own name. (Let’s be real – his grandkids did it for him)

It was unlikely that Arthur thought he would forget this time. However, it is possible that Arthur wrote the horrors and the wonders down, to check years later, if his memories really were true. We know that PTSD scrambles memories and removes the usual linear retelling. Did Arthur know he might need a verifiable source of truth, other than his memory?

Regardless of his intent, Arthur wrote down these events and lives lost and now we can read them as if he were writing directly to us. As the old saying goes - you die three times. Firstly, when you stop breathing, next when you are buried, and finally when someone speaks your name for the last time. I don’t know about you – but this gives me motivation and pause to say aloud – ‘Arthur Augustine Ryan, Marty Kennedy, Lynden Regan, Brian Smith and Leith Mudge from Streaky Bay.’

After the War

After the war, Arthur would have six more children with his wife Marie. Twins Carmel and Joan born in October 1945. Their son John arrived in December 1948. Twins Christine and Terry followed in April 1951. Lucky last Patricia Monica joined the Ryan clan in December 1954!

Many of 80 Squadron didn’t live to see the end of the conflict in the Pacific or the end of World War Two. Others, like Arthur, returned to their ‘day jobs’ and raised their families in peacetime. They paid a different price. Arthur carried with him debilitating health issues from his time at war that would impact him greatly for the rest of his life. He also would most likely have had emotional and mental health impacts; these weren’t usually discussed in the post war era.

Arthur continued working as a grocer, returning to McIlraths in Hornsby and Coogee. He then worked for David Jones in their George Street and Pitt Street stores. Arthur later managed Arthur’s Food Hall, which was named for its owner, Arthur Aginian. KD Delicatessen in King Street, Newtown was Arthur’s final fulltime employer.

Throughout his working life Arthur was known as a knowledgeable grocer, who was humorous and well liked. One story from his grocery days is told in the family as follows. A customer at KD Delicatessen asked Arthur if the rabbits for sale there were fresh. ‘Madame,’ he replied, ‘They are so fresh we had to slap their faces this morning!’

Arthur died in 1974, aged 67 and is buried at Northern Suburbs Memorial Park, North Ryde NSW.

Arthur was survived by his eight children and his wife Marie, who died at the age of 94 in 2008. Arthur and Marie were blessed with 18 beautiful grandchildren. Their great grandchildren, including my two children Harper and August, currently number 28, and counting.

As told by Rebecca Ryan, Arthur’s granddaughter

Melbourne, August 2020

Sources

AA Ryan Personal War Diary

Ryan and Kennedy Oral Family History

Virtual War Memorial of Australia (VWMA.org.au)

Australian War Memorial (AWM.gov.au)

NAA WW2 Service Records (NAA.gov.au)

DVA Nominal Rolls (Nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au)