Department of Veterans' Affairs
Transcript
Enlistment and training
Most of the chaps that I knew, used to go shooting with and stuff, they were in the army and gone. They were a little bit older than me. There was about four of us, all about the same age. We joined together...We were sent to Victoria, to Laverton.
We were called the rookies... Marching, rifle practice, going in the gas chamber to test you...Discipline was very strict, yes, discipline was strict, yes, but, well, we expected that... Most of them were put in a bulk group and we were picked out of that as to what you would do.
I finished up armourer assistant. Used to handle the guns, clean the guns. When the bombs had to go into the plane, we had to use the muscle to put them in the plane.
Assignments
I can remember my first squadron was No. 1 RSU, Repair and Salvage Unit and we finished up at Katherine. My job there was cleaning the showers and toilets for a start and then I went to No. 12 Squadron at Batchelor then after Batchelor I was sent to 457 Squadron, Spitfire squadron at Livingstone Field. I had somewhat of an experience there.
There was a Jewish chap...and he was with me and we were sent to this shooting place where they train for shooting, A big mound and everything like that and we were sent there and had to gather up the guns that had been left around and there was a Vickers G O which was a very very fast firing gun and they had set that up with a stock on the end and I thought, 'Hello, I must try this out'.
So I got a tin and put it on the mound, 'I'll chase that over'. And when I picked myself up off the ground, I didn't try that again.
Aircraft armament
I was put on the strip, Livingstone strip, where the 457 Squadron was. I was put on the strip there and we gathered up all the guns all round and got them in there and our job was to clean them all, pull them to pieces and they had what they called a lock, the machine gun, about 10 inches long and two inches wide. Excuse me for using the old measurements but this is what I am used to. Two and a half by two and a half square by 10 inches long. We were taught how to pull that to pieces and all the rest of it... That's until we went on to the 20 millimetres. Well, went on the point fives.
First it was 303s, point threes and then we went on to point fives and then the 20-millimetre cannon. We had to take them all to pieces and clean them, that was our job. I got very good at it. I could pull the lock of a machine gun to pieces without seeing and quite a few air gunners got that way too. Could pull to pieces. There was no lights, blindfolded, just by the feel.
