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Home , February 1942, Shrine of Remembrance

U.S. marine and Australian SERVICEMAN SALUTE

CITYGALLERY

In this issue : Gal- A N D lery OVER-PAID, OVER-SEXED D OVER HERE? U.S. MARINES IN WARTIME 1943 nation- Vol. 8, No. 3 17 FEB – 30 APR, 2010 4 Vol. 1 No. 1 CITY GALLERY FEB – APR, 2010 Vol. 1 No. 1 CITY GALLERY FEB – APR, 2010

A N OVER-PAID, OVER-SEXED D OVER HERE? U.S. MARINES IN WARTIME MELBOURNE 1943

attle-weary and in poor health B following the Guadalcanal campaign, an important turning point in the Allied fight against the Japanese, the men of the First Marine Division, United States Marine Corps were shipped to Melbourne for nine months recuperation in . Greeted with warm hospitality, these 15,000 young American men found a ‘home away from home’. They formed enduring friendships with Australian families, and romantic attachments with young Australian women. Drawing on original 2. research and incorporating oral histories, memoirs and letters, this exhibition examines the little-known troops to fight in Europe and the story of the U.S. Marines’ ‘friendly Middle East. On 7 invasion’ of Melbourne during the Japanese bombed the American World War II. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawai’i, bringing the U.S. into the war. As the The sojourn of the Marines in Japanese advanced swiftly through 1. Melbourne is a small episode in the South-East Asia towards Australia, history of the Pacific war, which led Prime Minister John Curtin delivered Cover . Australian and United 1. (L–R) U.S. Marines Bill Christie States servicemen toast each other and Frank Knapp in Melbourne, 1943 to the strengthening of military and his famous address to the nation: at the allied forces get together night Rachel Jenzen Private Collection. cultural ties between Australia and ‘I make it quite clear that Australia at the . Melbourne, Vic. 14 March 1943. 2. Pocket Guide to Australia. the U.S. Australia had been at war looks to America, free of any pangs Australian negative Issued to U.S. servicemen stationed in Australia number:138147. during World War II. United States. Produced since , entering the as to our traditional links or kinship by Army Special Service Division, 1942. conflict alongside Britain and sending with the United Kingdom’.

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The Australian government fully Most importantly, the war forged While successive contingents of U.S. Pacific war at Guadalcanal in the supported U.S. General Douglas close personal friendships troops passed through Melbourne, Solomon Islands and later fought at MacArthur’s Australian-based between Australian civilians it is the lengthy nine-month stay Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Okinawa command of Allied military and American soldiers. of the Marines during 1943 that and Iwo Jima. Approximately 90 operations in the Pacific. Curtin is distinctive and particularly per cent of Marines stationed in recalled Australian forces from the In early 1942,Melbourne was the memorable. The Marines considered Melbourne enlisted in a surge of Middle East to fight in Australia’s initial headquarters for the Allied Melbourne ‘their second home’. patriotism and were attracted to immediate region. Following the military effort in the south-west Pacific They even adopted the traditional the prestige and rigorous training of Japanese capture of on 15 and host to more than 30,000 U.S. Australian folksong ‘Waltzing Matilda’ the Corps. The majority were under February 1942 and the subsequent soldiers. Their presence stimulated as their ‘battle hymn’ and have twenty years of age, and they came , Australia was the city’s social and economic life, continued to sing it at every annual from all regions of the U.S. Most reliant on U.S. military protection. and made a considerable impression reunion since the war ended. were from agricultural or blue-collar With success at the battles of the upon the Australian people. With backgrounds and a considerable Coral Sea and Midway Island in preconceived ideas about the U.S. number were the sons of recent mid-1942, the Allied situation gleaned from Hollywood movies, immigrants to America. gradually improved. By 1943 there Melburnians eagerly learned about was anticipation in Australia and the ‘real’ American habits and customs. Melbourne was the biggest city some U.S. of victory over the Japanese. It was inevitable that in an environment had ever seen. By 1943 it was a city But this was not immediate and of wartime anxiety and social stress, in the midst of war. To protect its port intense fighting occurred throughout the government and churches facilities, factories and people from the Pacific until the war ended raised concerns about the ‘immoral’ aerial attack, streetlights were dimmed in . behaviour of young Australian women 3. under ‘brownout’ regulations and air- who fraternised with the dashing raid trenches were dug throughout World War II transformed Australian- young servicemen. By the middle The First Division Marines arrived parklands. Many staple items of food American relations and the strategic of 1942, however, General MacArthur in Melbourne as the heroes of and clothing were rationed or simply alliance forged between the two relocated Allied headquarters to Guadalcanal. Specialising in unobtainable. Civilians queued for countries left a significant legacy in Brisbane, and the American forces amphibious landings, the U.S. beer, chocolates and other luxuries. terms of foreign policy and regional were despatched to the military front. Marine Corps is an elite voluntary Strict federal controls were enforced security. The one million U.S. fighting force, ‘a breed apart’ from over all aspects of civilian life, from servicemen who passed through other branches of the American employment to travel to leisure. Australia during the war also spread military. Its reputation for daring new ideas about music, food, exploits was firmly established language and everyday modes of in World War II. The First Marine behaviour and influenced Australian Division is famous for launching 3. 1st Marine Division Guadalcanal Patch designed by General Merrill B. Twining, culture more broadly. the first American offensive of the 1943 . Rachel Jenzen Private Collection.

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4. Melbourne war bride Dawne Balester (nee McLeod-Sharpe), Mentone, Australia, 1945. Reproduced by permission Balester family.

5. U.S. Marine Corporal Fred Balester, studio photograph, 1942. Reproduced by permission Balester family.

6. U.S. Marines and Australian friends, Melbourne, September 1943. Photo taken by U.S. Marine Private Bob Barton. Rachel Jenzen Private Collection.

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More women than ever before The fighting at Guadalcanal had As the young men recovered, Eager to forget about the war, had entered the workforce, taking taken a terrible toll. As Marine they came to view Melbourne as the Marines found much to like on non-traditional roles. Families veteran Norris Cole recalled: ‘…the a kind of paradise, representing about Melbourne. Favourite places were split apart, and all young division suffered 100% casualties, the antithesis of war. and pastimes recalled include: adults were in the military services with the dead, wounded, and those the seaside suburb of St Kilda and or in essential war work. For Dawne sick from malaria, dengue fever, The Marines were mostly Luna Park; walks along the Yarra Balester, in her late teens in 1943: jungle rot, malnutrition and combat accommodated in the covered River and in the Botanic Gardens; ‘Melbourne was an empty city. fatigue… we were a pretty sickly spectator stands of the Melbourne dancing at the Palm Grove and the The only men you saw were little bunch’. Those most severely affected Cricket Ground, soon known as Trocadero; riding the trams; shopping boys or very old men…Women drove were sent to the 4th General Hospital Camp Murphy and only a short stroll in department stores; attending the trains, women delivered the mail, (now the Royal Melbourne Hospital) from the city centre. Smaller camps movies and the races; and viewing women did everything…. When [the in Parkville for treatment. Malaria were set up at the South Melbourne the famous nude portrait of ‘Chloe’ Marines] came, the whole city came was the most widespread condition, Cricket Ground and at Mount Martha publicly displayed in Young and alive again’. with the recurrent symptoms of the and Ballarat in regional . Jacksons’ hotel. tropical disease often mistaken by Officers lived in greater style, Australians for drunkenness. often enjoying private apartments.

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7. Victory medals issued 10. Venereal disease to all prevention poster employees. Medals, distributed by U.S. Victory; Europe and the military authorities Pacific, 1945. to servicemen stationed Maker: Stokes, Melbourne. in Australia. Poster, City of Melbourne Art Don’t Risk it Feller, Maker and Heritage Collection. unknown, 1942–45, ink on paper, 74 x 61cm, 8. U.S. Marines with City of Melbourne Art Australian family, and Heritage Collection 7. Victoria, 1943. Rachel Jenzen Private Collection

9. U.S. Marines march through Melbourne on George Washington’s birthday, 22 February 1943. City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

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Melbourne was also the site of the and their first romantic and sexual Relationships between Melbourne Marines’ only public parade. Held on relationships. One Marine veteran women and U.S. Marines became George Washington’s Birthday, 22 recalled his Australian girl: ‘We a source of community tension and February 1943, Melburnians turned walked in the park, sat near the hostility, especially from Australian out in force to cheer ‘the saviours of Shrine of Remembrance, sat on the servicemen. In February 1943 Australia’ marching from the Shrine banks of the ‘dirty’ Yarra, held hands mounted police intervened in the of Remembrance to Parliament [for] what seemed forever and kissed ‘Battle of Melbourne’, a street brawl House past Flinders Street Station “till our lips were sore”’. And at the between U.S. Marines and men of and the Town Hall. end of the war, as many as 15,000 the AIF Ninth Division in the city on Australian war brides journeyed leave. Eager to improve relations, With so many of their own men to the United States. the Marines hosted a conciliatory absent, Melbourne women greeted ‘beer party’ for the two forces at the visiting Marines with considerable the Melbourne Cricket Ground excitement. The feeling was clearly on 14 March. The night was an reciprocated. Many veterans equate unparalleled success and ensured 10. Melbourne with a ‘coming of age’ ongoing goodwill.

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These research materials form Curator Biographies Acknowledgements a unique archive, highlighting the Professor Kate Darian-Smith is Particular thanks to Dr Carla Pascoe significance of the Marines stay Professor of Australian Studies who has greatly assisted with the in Melbourne during 1943. and History at the Australian curatorial research and other tasks Centre, School of Historical for the exhibition and preparation Although popular Australian Studies, . of the website. representations of American Her publications on oral history, servicemen portrayed them as ‘over- Australian society and war include Special thanks also to City of paid, over-sexed and over here’, the the groundbreaking study, On the Melbourne: Art and Heritage reality was more complex. Many Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime Collection Program; University of Marines were away from home for the 1939–1945 (second edition, Melbourne: Cultural and Community first time and eager for the comfort Melbourne University Press, 2009). Relations Advisory Group; Australian and reassurance of domestic life. Centre; School of Historical Studies; Veteran Jack Biggins expressed his Rachel Jenzen completed a Master Graduate School of Business and thanks to the people of Melbourne: of Arts in History at the University Economics; The Art Department ‘“You” were wonderful to us! You of Melbourne in 2000, and worked (Melbourne) for The Pacific,

11. adopted a group of malaria ridden as a research assistant and tutor produced by HBO; Aida Viziru and teenagers who were a long way while undertaking her postgraduate Erica Mehrtens; the Australian This exhibition draws upon original from home.’ Their friendships with studies. Rachel travelled extensively War Memorial; the ongoing research conducted from the 1980s Australians proved to be enlightening in the U.S. for her research on the encouragement of John Lack, Donna onwards in Australia and the U.S. cross-cultural encounters which often U.S. Marines in wartime Victoria, Dening, Alf Batchelder and David Kate Darian-Smith’s pioneering endured for decades after the war. creating a substantial archive of Crotty; the support of Jan and Tony interviews with Australians about letters, interviews, memoirs and White, Gerald Jenzen, Marian and Melbourne during World War II reveal Kate Darian-Smith photographs. Dan MacGilvray, Marjorie and Bill the complexity of civilian responses and Rachel Jenzen Kasso; the family of Fred and Dawne to the American military presence. February 2010 Balester; and all the men, women In a path-breaking study, Rachel Further information on the U.S. Marines and families in Australia and the U.S. Jenzen travelled throughout the U.S., in Melbourne can be found on the website: who have so generously shared their participating in reunions of Marine www.history.unimelb.edu.au/marinesmelbourne/ memories and contributed to the veterans. Motivated by nostalgia, research for this project. curiosity, gratitude and in some cases, regret, these men welcomed the chance to remember their 11. U.S. Marine Private Herb Lehmann with fiancé, , USA, c.1942. soldiering past. Rachel Jenzen Private Collection

10 11 12. U.S. Marine Private James Martin with “Peggy” the dog, Victoria Park, Ballarat, 1943. Rachel Jenzen Private Collection.