Hearing about the war
I grew up in the town of Murtoa, in western Victoria, and I can very clearly remember it was a Sunday, late afternoon, evening, and Menzies came on the radio to announce that Australia was at war.
I don't know whether I had any very strong reaction, but we had been told for many years that Germany was going to be a strong, virile enemy. They had been painted by the news as being very aggressive, and we all felt that, well, perhaps this was the right thing to do.
I remember talking as a young lad in the street to one of our prominent shire counsellors and he said that, I can still remember him saying, that this would be a long, hard, bitter contest.
Attempting to join
At the alleyway beside the Mechanics' Institute where the Saturday night pictures were held every night, there was a desk with some RAAF officers there recruiting. And I was a fairly big lad and looked older than my years, so I went there and asked about joining up. And they were taking notes and one of our dear family friends, a lady behind me, said "You can't take him, he's only 15 and a half!" So that put the kibosh on that.
Reason for wanting to join the Navy
I was fascinated by stories of the sea and how Great Britain had commanded the sea for many centuries, virtually. I read the stories of Drake and the Spanish Armada, Drake's expeditions to what is now Mexico, Gulliver's Travels, all that sort of thing so fascinated me.
There was another book I can remember, The Swiss Family Robinson. I'm not too sure where the Swiss family came in, but that was a fascinating story.
And at the primary school where I attended first at Murtoa, there was a big painting obviously taken from a village, a fishing village in England, and there was an old man, who was obviously retired, pointing at the sea. That's where his life had been, eh? And all these things fascinated me, and so I wanted to travel and be part of the Navy. And I joined the Navy.
Joining the Navy
Sometime early in February, I suppose, in 1943, I got the notice to call in for a medical examination and passed that very easily. I was very, very active. I thought of myself as a pretty good Aussie Rules footballer and had been signed up by Melbourne to play in all the practice games during the autumn.
And that's another funny story. I thought I was doing pretty well. I suppose I could say the president, who was a very powerful man and managing director of Mobil in the Vacuum Oil Company, he was president of the Melbourne Football Club. And then I got the notice that I would be sworn in on my 18th birthday, so after practice, I said to the president, "Excuse me, Mr. Blair, but I will not be able to play any football, I'll be joining the Navy."
And his answer was very interesting. He said, "Listen lad, what did you do that for?" And I said "Well, sir, there's a war on, you know?" And he said, "Listen to me, my boy." He said, "Anybody can go and join the Navy, but not many people can play football for the Melbourne Football Club." "Sorry, sir, it's too late. I'm signed up."
Being drafted to HMAS Shropshire
One late afternoon, evening, I was called up to the signal station. We lived in what had been a farmer's house down in the valley. We slept there, had our meals there. And I was told to get up to the signal station. And the lieutenant was there, and he said, "You're catching the bus back to Port Melbourne tomorrow morning. You are being drafted to HMAS Shropshire."
He said, "You're a lucky lad. That's an important draft. Everybody'll be jealous."
The Shropshire had just arrived from England, or not long since been arrived from England where she was commissioned into the RAN. And apparently it was considered something very special to get a draft to Shropshire, and a Captain Collins, the famous Captain Collins. Now, I get told "You're gonna do the morning watch down there at the door as a sentry." "Oh, what do I do?" "Oh, you just stand there and do whatever anybody wants to do for you. You got a rifle, you're standing there at attention." A car pulls up at the curb. I can see through the door of the car. The back door opens and out gets a figure. I recognised him straight away from all the photographs. It was Captain John Collins.
Now, as he came through the door, there were people milling around, up and down, all over the place, in the road. I must've been the only one that recognised him, so I sprang to attention, 'cause you give a captain... what do they call it? The present arms salute. Eh? Now, I did that, bang.
He just looked at me, nodded, kept walking, went upstairs. About half an hour or more later he comes back. I see him coming, present arms again. "Thank you, sentry." Then away he went. I often wonder. Collins was a very powerful figure. He got his own way in the Navy. He could've gone back somewhere and said "There's a lad who's on duty there. Draft him to Shropshire." We'll never know the answer, but I think that might've, what might've happened.
Captain Collins
In the early hours of the morning, we're heading into where we're gonna do the bombardment at Cape Gloucester at New Britain. And by this time, I know the manoeuvres a little bit. I'd never been to sea before, but I'm quickly picking up the idea.
And out on the starboard stern, aft, I see the bow wave of a ship that should not have been there. What do I do? I'm a greenhorn. I think about this for a second and say "Well, I better do something." I yell out, "Starboard lookout, officer of the watch!" He's up on the bridge, a little dais a bit further up the compass platform. He comes to the rail and looks. "Yes, lookout." I said, "Bearing so-and-so, unidentified object." "Thank you." Nothing happens for a while. You could hear them talking. Messages going back. "It's all right, lookout, thank you". It's one of our destroyers. Shouldn't have been there.
Now when we get back from the Cape Gloucester bombardment, back to Buna, off Buna, I get told to report to the gunnery office. "From now on you'll be manning the port Evershed bearing indicator on the compass platform." Why? You don't get told, you just get told what to do. The port Evershed bearing indicator is also known as the captain's sights. It's a huge thing with a huge set of binoculars on it. Bearings and follow radar, follow guns, follow, do everything, eh? And beside it is a high-chair which is known as the captain's chair, and this place is known as the captain's sights. So, you get to know the captain.
Here I'm just a few months after I came. Big job! Very proud. But I also did it very meticulously and conscientiously. Here comes a funny story about four months later. I'm pretty used to what goes on now, I'm pretty smart. We're cruising off about Lae returning from something, lovely morning like this morning, sunny, calm. Mountains in New Guinea with cloud cover there, calm sea. Straight ahead, something in the water. "Port lookout, officer of the watch." "Yes." I said, "Bearing directly ahead, unidentified object." He picked up his glasses. "Yeah, okay. Carry on." This particular officer of the watch was known as Chuckles to us. Not a nice bloke at all. We do as he said, we go this way, this way, that way, that way, that way.
We come back again. There is this object again. "Port lookout, officer of the watch." "Yes?" "Bearing so-and-so, same object as reported before, now more visible, probably a tree trunk." "It's all right, lookout," he said. "I heard you the first time!" Collins is doing his morning constitutional up and down on the port wing of the bridge, eh? He bounds up onto the compass platform a couple steps. "Officer of the watch, when a lookout reports to you in the correct seamanlike manner, he shall be replied in the correct seamanlike manner." "Oh, yes, sir." "Thank you. Thank you, lookout." He goes back. From then on, I kept clear of Chuckles. I thought, never get in this bloke's way again, he'll crucify me! But that's the sort of captain Collins was. Everything had to be done correctly.
Anti-aircraft protection
After the Leyte Campaign, the kamikazes had come up in strength now and were operating well. And we decided, or someone decided, we don't have enough anti-aircraft firepower. We wanted more Bofors. Gunnery Officer Bracegirdle had been asking Canberra or Sydney for more Bofors. Nothing had happened for months.
The story goes, and it's very true, Bracegirdle said "We need more Bofors." He invited, I think he was a colonel, an American officer in command of stores to come out to Shropshire for dinner. We were back in Manus for a few days' resupply. They dined and wined him well.
The story went that Bracegirdle gave him many bottles of scotch, because the wardroom was a wet canteen place, you know. They had grog all the time. Next morning, a series of lighters come out from, Lord, would have been... not Manus, some... doesn't matter. They've got engineers, welding gear, stores of Bofors, ammunition. And they spent the next day or so going around where guns told them, "Put a Bofor there. Put another Bofor there. Take away an Oerlikon that's too small. Put a Bofor there."
We finished up with about 17 or 19 Bofors. All for the cost of a few bottles of Scotch! As far as I know, the Australian Navy didn't even know about it, or ever got charged with it. It may be one of the reasons why I'm sitting here now. Our firepower was unbelievable. Later on at Lingayen Gulf, ships around us were all being hit. We were the target many times. We never got hit.
Philippines
David: But my action station was actually in A turret shell room and I had the special job of putting the shells on the escalator thing with cramps. Hydraulic, you worked a couple of levers to do this and that, up and down. While the guns are firing, all you can hear is thump, thump, thump, thump. And later on when I got out, we looked around. Filipino people in boats, paddling things on rafts, they were all coming out to greet us and say hello. It was a very moving experience. And that afternoon, of course, MacArthur goes ashore at Palau. You should look up all these places on the map! You better come with us on a trip to the Philippines and see them for yourself!
Speaker 2: I'd love too!
David: And he does that famous broadcast: "People of the Philippines, I have returned." And he did.
Speaker 2: Yes.
David: Very, very moving. Well, we didn't know about that at the time. We all knew he'd gone ashore somewhere.
Captain Nichols
David: Morotai, big bombardment. The Japs had already fled. Americans moved in and walked across the country. We go back to Biak on the way back to Admiralty Harbour, Admiralty Islands and Showers our captain, now is to be relieved. We had been told we were gonna get a captain from the Royal Navy. Ooh, don't like that. Australia didn't have many captains capable of commanding a cruiser in action. Saturday afternoon at Biak, out comes this American barge. And on board comes Charles Arthur Godfrey Nichols.
We're all looking around, you know, from a distance, "What's this bloke like?" Divisions next morning, it was a Sunday, we're in the safe harbour, we do our little church service and count the divisions. Then captain's rounds. By this time I'm smart enough, get out of the way. So, I'm up on B deck, not down on the fo'c'sle. Around he comes, bugler, followed by the captain. Guy Griffiths our officer was there with Trunky Cantrell and a couple of the leading seamen. Nichols walks up and instead of saluting, he goes and says "Good morning, good morning, good morning, Gentlemen. Nice to see you." I thought, "Hello, hello, hello, this bloke's interesting!" Everybody loved him. We worshiped the ground he walked on.
Speaker 2: So he was a good pick.
David: I have never, ever seen a leader like him. He guided us through the Philippines Campaign. He never had to shout an order. He would go in, "Would you mind doing this? Do this? Thank you, thank you." A devout Christian, a brilliant navigator. Years later, I kept in touch with his family because they knew of me as a lookout and the writer of the history. He had passed on, but the whole family, absolutely delightful people. Top of the world. His eldest daughter became a very close friend of me and my wife. We used to stay with her in Kent when we were in England.
Speaker 2: It's a very...
David: Very touching, very moving occasion.
Speaker 2: It's a very moving story.
David: Yep.
Speaker 2: And he brought everyone home, on the Shropshire, too.
David: He brought everyone home. I think this is worth recording. In a day and age when people have given up a lot of their basic motivations and faith. After the big Leyte battles, we're heading for Lingayen Gulf. By this time, the kamikazes were at their top and still had lots of expert pilots. We arrive off Lingayen Gulf with the cruisers and the battleships and destroyers. The main force is a day behind us. Three days behind us. It's still dark. Nichols gets on the blower. He said, "Gentlemen, we know what we're up against. We've got three hard days ahead. I'm asking you now, if you see them coming at you, keep firing even if you think they're gonna hit us. Keep firing, keep firing, don't stop. All right, thank you, yep."
He said, "Years ago, I think it was the Civil War 400 years ago, Lord Somebody said to his men before a battle a prayer. "Dear Lord, we will be busy this day. If we forget you, do not thou forget us." That vast force was in there for three days. Out at night, back in day. Shropshire was only one of four ships not hit. The Australia was hit five times. Unbelievable. If that's not divine intervention, I don't know what is.
Kamikazes and an airborne assault
Anyway, from then on, the kamikazes would annoy us time and time again. Some days they'd come in numbers, and then we'd be at action stations all day. Oh, there'd be five, six, or seven of them around. But they were still learning their tactics. They weren't as damaging as they were later on. We did a bombardment at dawn along the beach, then we came back again to the front of Corregidor, where there's this great cliff. 300 feet high, you know, huge cliff. That's where the headquarters of the Americans were. That's where all their building were, and that's where the Japs were.
It's about 8:30, 9:00 in the morning and I could hear, hello, from the rear, I could hear this enormous sound, roaring. Look up, two lines of Dakotas, huge lines. They can fly over us and head straight for the top of Corregidor. And out they tumble in their parachutes. A magnificent sight, terrible sight, really. Some of them didn't make it. Some of them jumped short and their parachutes got short on the cliff face, you know. They were dangling there, kicking their legs. I could see all this through the, a couple of miles away, but through the binoculars you could see everything, you know. Astonishingly enough, the Japs hardly fired back. They were landing on the rooftops of the buildings and in the gardens and bang, bang, bang. And by the end of the day, they had taken the whole of that position and only lost a few men. That was just astonishing. Unbelievable.
Food supplies from the US
David: I suppose there were lots of grizzles and grumbles about it, but it wasn't really too bad. Towards the end of the Philippines Campaign, supplies were very slow in coming forward and we lived on cottage pie not often, but quite often. Cottage pie was bully beef with dehydrated mashed potatoes on top with a few things on it, eh?
Speaker 2: Did you ever eat it again when you got home with some real mince, and...?
David: Oh yeah, my word. It was fine. Fresh vegetables were always short, but sometimes the American supplies would catch up with us. We'd get them. The American supply system was generous and magnificent. I can remember on one occasion in Leyte Gulf where we hadn't seen any Australian supplies for three or four weeks, a big ship like Shropshire still had a reasonable amount of good food, but the destroyers like Arunta would be in trouble. And then we were told there were new supply ships coming up from Admiralty Islands. They'd be supplying everybody with everything. The Americans sent them first, one of the first ships in with fresh vegetables and things, the Americans sent to the Arunta, because they knew that we had more problems than what they had. Very generous of them.
Bombardment assisting the army
Anyway, we did win one very important bombardment, which helped the Army considerably. They were a standard. Because we had to take up a position around the coast to fire our guns at this particular Japanese hot spot, strong point. Our range was nearly 21,000 yards. And we would be firing at something we couldn't see, only on a map. And the Army people said, you know, "This is not too good. Dangerous." Their gunnery officer assured them, "You put your men out here, so that they're out of the way, and we'll hit that target." Which we did. We fired eight broadsides, everyone on target. And the Japs were decimated and the Army apparently just moved in and did it. They couldn't believe it.
Questioning the necessity of the last campaigns
Even amongst our unintelligent sort of people, young people that knew nothing much about what goes on in the world in the mess deck, we talked about this. Said, "Why on earth are we here? Why would you send men ashore to get killed when the fighting is up there heading for Japan?" Ever thought about the answer?
End of the war
From the end of '43 to now into May, June, July of '45, on something like 15, 16 major operations, including the Philippines, and never once been hit. Whereas ships all around us had been hit. We were saying to ourselves, the domestic talk was "Well, one of these days, we'll have to cop it, you know, on the law of averages." And at this stage. My action station was the loading number on Number 10 Bofor in the port waist, out in the open. We thought, "Well, you know, we'll have to be on our toes."
And then one morning about 8:00, half-past eight, the loudspeakers come on. Oh, announcement. "We've just received a signal that a--" whatever they called it, a special type bomb had been dropped on a town in Japan." Oh, that sounds interesting!" We don't know what that's all about. And then a few days later, a bomb has been dropped on Nagasaki and these are atomic bombs, with all that sort of destructive power. Oh, that's interesting. We just continued our work, chipping and painting and sweeping, doing whatever we have to do in port.
And then finally, we're told "The Japanese Cabinet," or whatever they were, "have sued for peace. They're willing to surrender. Not really an enormous amount of excitement. There was no sort of yelling around cheering and running around carrying on like a pork chop. Perhaps the mood was "Thank God it's all over. Are we going to celebrate?" They found lots of bottles of beer, extra food, you know, people coming from ashore with supplies to do this and do that. We have a big party.
Occupation of Japan - Effects of war on Japan
I saw something there that I'll never forget. All the South Tokyo industrial area and housing area, the poor suburbs of Tokyo, I suppose-- there's no rubble, not like in Manila. There's no brick walls. It's just ash, ash, ash for acres and acres of ash. And all women and men, kids, pottering around with sticks, looking for things.
Even after the terrible, what we thought was a terrible war and going through all our operations, I thought to myself, "My God. What have we done to these people?" I found out later that the incendiary fire raids we used instead of ordinary bombardment, that wasn't going to knock out Japanese installations. The policy was we'll terrorize the people. And the night of that particular raid when all those suburbs were destroyed, I don't think the Japanese city council even knows today how many people died. It's probably between 110, 120,000.
Demobilisation
David: And we got home in December, Christmas leave. We did a tour of flag showing to Melbourne, Hobart, and back to Sydney. The morning we sailed into Sydney, there was a-- the loudspeakers came on. "The following ratings report to draft." And I thought, "Well, that's not me." Because there was lots of blokes who were many years older than me, had lots more points. There was a point system that you got.
And then I thought, "Hello, there's blokes' names being called out, they haven't been as long as I have been here!" Sure enough, my name comes out. We were told to get off, pack immediately and get away. I never went and saw anybody to say goodbye except the blokes that came with me that I knew, and off we went down to Melbourne.
We're in Melbourne for a month or two, doing odd jobs, and finally up comes the story that you're now going to be demobilized. And there I was, out at Royal Park, if you know where Royal Park is there in Melbourne.
Speaker 2: Reasonably.
David: Near where the zoo is now, you know.
Speaker 2: Yes.
David: Used to be a big army depot there. And they gave me a suit and a shirt and some-- I don't know what else, a few things. And signed a lot of papers and off you go, out I went. I was gone.
