One hundred years ago, in August 1917, my father was born.

Born in the First World War at a time his uncle was about to become involved in the battle of Polygon Wood. He was a teenager during the Great Depression and fought in the New Guinea islands in the Second World War. He died a few months short of his 65th birthday from emphysema – passive smoking did it because he never smoked. This is the eulogy I should have given at his funeral, but was too young to give – maybe a little shorter. You do not have to read 😛 Continue Reading →

Special birthday present Tristan. I am sure you will want to share these :p

I need to try one more piece to see if it is ok.

I am doing some research into my father’s WWII service. I have heard different things and am not sure if they really stack up. Now, I have finished the research available on the web and need to visit the War Memorial to follow through his service in the 1st and 2nd New Guinea Battalions. I was able to trace his participation with the Ballarat raised 8th Battalion and he was rapidly promoted to Sergeant on enlistment. It seems he went straight into Intelligence because he was good with figures and quite literate for the time. He told me that he refused officer training because he did not like the way officers were treated as better than the soldiers. By remaining a sergeant he outranked nearly everyone and being in Intelligence, he knew what was happening and was actively involved. Sgt Guy is mentioned all through the Battalion war diary for his work reconnoitring and mapping. He showed me how to draw maps and interpret them when I was 12 years old and I developed an interest in bush walking from that. Last entry in the 8 Battalion war diary for him was of him “marching out” to 2 Battalion NG Inf. at 0530 27 March 1945 – I felt a kind of sadness as I had developed a feeling that I was allowed into the daily lives of some 1,000 men on the adventure of their lives. They had recently entered dangerous areas and were about to start a very aggressive campaign to remove Japanese forces from a section of Bougainville. I had heard a lot about Bougainville  and had expected that he would still be with the 8th Battalion through that part of the war. Now I know it is more complex. I also remember Rabaul and a volcano mentioned. That suggests New Britain and the NG Infantry. Three books that I read when I was young were titled “Jungle Warfare”, “Stand Easy” and “Khaki and Green”. These books are now lost when my mother moved several times in the 1980s. They were written by people who had served in the Infantry and dad considered them to be precious mementos. He ended his service in the 1st Battalion NG infantry so there were some things that happened in between. He was also a staff sergeant at the end of the war too. At the same time as he moved into the NG Battalion, several others who were long-time 8th Battalion leaders left to do the same. I suspect there is a story behind that. I had to request that his war service records be scanned so that I can see them. Nobody had requested access before. That is sad in a way but at least it will be there to help me follow through and check things. I keep thinking of how many people exposed themselves to such danger and are largely forgotten. The ones who had young lived stopped at the same age as my son is now. The damage done to their later lives by war experiences. The fact that they were prohibited from talking about things they had seen and done for 30 or more years and what that did to relationships. <h4>Random memories</h4> Fishing with grenades. I was told about fishing with grenades. Apparently this is something “Americans” did and it was illegal in the Australian army. Exploding a grenade in the water near a reef stunned the fish and then all you needed to do was collect the fish. This was one of the perks of going out on a PT boat. Talk about a company being sent to an are that had a Battalion strength of Japanese soldiers defending it …