Vol. 49 No 4 (New Series) SUMMER 2019

THE GALLIPOLI GAZETTE

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB LTD

Data reassessment finds missing US Submarine

A missing World War II submarine that spent much of the war in Western Australia has been found in Japanese waters, 75 years after it sank with 80 US sailors on board, under a US program called ‘The Lost 52 Project’ to find the 52 US vessels lost in that war.

In November, the US navy The expedition's Japanese headed back to port and would officially verified the discovery of historian and researcher Yutaka not complete the total search the USS Grayback after a team Iwasaki re-translated the original area this year," Mr Taylor said. dedicated to surveying lost documents and discovered the "As the team was viewing the submarines made the find off the mistake, giving the team a new last bit of this data roll across the coast of Okinawa in June. area to focus on. screen, you could feel everyone The USS Grayback went down Tim Taylor, who founded the shuffling and getting ready to in the East China Sea during its Lost 52 Project behind the shift gears to secure the ship for 10th patrol mission in February mission, said the incredible find getting underway.” 1944 and, according to Japanese was made after one of the team's "The next thing we see in the reports, "exploded and sank robotic vehicles had technical last quarter of the last line of immediately". problems and was forced to data is the USS Grayback roll But a translation error in 1946 return. across the monitor." placed the submarine 160km "It was amazing; the team had from its true final location. resigned to the fact that we're

Underwater image of the wreck

Continued page 14. 1

Editorial…

This edition carries stories from was injured and set up canteens premises which we expect to two world wars plus a book for soldiers. have operational in late 2020. review from the Vietnam war. From World War Two we have American born foreign Bruce McEwan take us to the story of the Afro-American correspondent, Carl Gallipoli and recounts the , brought into Robinson has written, The horrible existence of the troops focus by the recent discovery of Bite of the Lotus: an intimate in the trenches. We also have a lost aircraft from the war. In a memoir of the Vietnam War. the story of a remarkable Fijian, similar vein, we have the story Carl, who has called Australia Ratu Josepha Sukuna, who was of another recent discovery, the home for over 40 years, denied entry to the British wreck of the submarine USS arrived in Saigon in 1964 as forces, so joined the French and Grayback which was sunk by an aid worker before joining later returned to help guide his the Japanese. USS Grayback Associated Press (AP) which country to independence. For spent much of the war based in led to decades as a foreign gender balance, we read about Australian waters correspondent, eventually as Dame Alice Chisholm. This Our President, John Robertson, the Sydney based represent- devoted widowed mother from reports on the steady progress tative of Newsweek. country New South Wales went of building of our new club to the Middle East after her son

On bahalf of our Patron and Directors, I extend our sincere best wishes to all our Members for a Happy and Merry

Christmas and good luck and good health for the coming year.

John Robertson President

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President’s Report

As we all know, the club is not now trading, and will not be for perhaps another year. We hope we have continued to maintain the Gallipoli Spirit with members through various functions and this Gazette in this interim period. The Annual General Meeting and Gallipoli Art Competition was a resounding success. I would like to thank Brian Perry and the staff at the Harbour View Hotel for their generous support. Coincident with the Exhibition at the hotel was the Spirit of Anzac exhibition where previous Gallipoli Art Prize winners in both Australia and Turkey were displayed in the newly completed Exhibition space at Club Merrylands RSL. It was such a success that the 2020 Competition Finalists will be shown at Merrylands. The Lone Pine commemoration was also very well received, again at the Harbour View Hotel. We continue to support the Gallipoli Scholarship and co-operate with the Turkish Consulate whenever Possible The refurbishment of the club building at 12-14 Loftus St is proceeding at a pace. The excavation of the basement area is complete, as is the conservation work on the Eastern and Western facades. The sandstone having been cleaned repaired/replaced where necessary has come up surprisingly well. Most of the structural timber work has been completed. The Museum space under 2-10 Loftus St. is currently occupied by site offices of the builder. Both sites should be ready for occupation by September 2020. The Building Committee meets regularly with AMP Capital and the builder for progress reports and site inspections.

John Robertson president

THE GALLIPOLI ART PRIZE 2020 PRIZE VALUED AT: $20,000 (ACQUISITIVE) Australian (and other eligible) artists are invited to enter one piece of original work produced in oil, acrylic, water colour or mixed medium in the Gallipoli Art Prize competition.

The Art Prize will be awarded to the artist who best depicts the spirit of the Club’s creed *:

“...there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation of perpetual peace and universal freedom.”

*Artwork does not need to reflect warfare or The Gallipoli conflict.

Please refer to www.gallipoli.com.au for full conditions and entry form.

ARTWORK: Deliver at the competitor’s expense on the 15, 16, 17 or 18 March 2020 for judging.

DELIVER TO: Merrylands RSL, 8/12 Miller St, Merrylands NSW 2160

ENQUIRE TO: Tel 02 9235 1533 or to the Secretary [email protected]

The winner will be announced to the media in a formal presentation in April.

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Sir Lala Sukuna

A young Fijian university student at Oxford was not allowed by Britain to join its forces in World War One, so he crossed the channel and became a French war hero before returning home to be a national leader

Ratu Sir Josefa Lalabalavu Fijians to avoid claims of Lands Commission. Within ten Vana'ali'ali Sukuna KCMG KBE exploiting native people. years he was a provincial (1888 –1958) was a Fijian chief, Sukuna said years later he felt commissioner and appointed scholar, soldier, and statesman that Fijians would gain the Legislative Councillor to and a pre-independence leader respect of their British rulers by represent the Fijian people. In of Fiji who established civic in- proving their worth on the this role, Sukuna attended the stitutions that led to indepen- battlefield, so he joined the 1937 coronation of King George dence. French Foreign Legion. VI and Queen Elizabeth. Born into a ruling family on Wounded in late 1915 he By 1940, he was the Native an island off Viti Levu, the returned to Fiji, but later Lands Reserves Commiss- largest Fijian island, he became returned to France and joined ioner. In 1942 he began a civil servant in his teenage the Native Transport Detach- recruiting Fijian men for the war years and progressed upwards ment that aided the British effort as Britain had reversed its through the civil service. He was Army. For his wartime service, former policy. granted leave of absence for a Sukuna was awarded the Croix Sukuna became Secretary year to study history at Oxford de Guerre. for Fijian Affairs and in 1944, he University. As a war hero, Ratu Sukuna re-established the Native Soon after, Word War One raisied funds for further Oxford Regulations Board. started and Sukuna applied to study. He completed his history He was knighted in 1946. In enlist in the British Army, but course and then proceeded to 1954, Ratu Sukuna was appoint- the British government had a Middle Temple, London from ted the first native-born policy of refusing enlistment to where he graduated BA LL.B in Speaker of the Legislative 1921, the first Fijian to receive a Council. university degree. He died childless in 1958. His As Sukuna's father had traditional titles passed to his died in 1920, he returned to nephew, Ratu Sir Kamasese become a clan leader and a Mara who led Fiji to indepen- chief assistant at the Native dence in 1970.

Ratu Sir Josefa Lalabalavu Vana'ali'ali Sukuna

Ratu Sir Kamasese Mara

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Great Ocean Road – the longest WW1 Memorial

Continuing our occasional series on Australian wars memorials we look at the longest one ever built

The 243 kilometre Great Hitchcock himself contributing The soldiers were paid $1.05 Ocean Road along the south- $6000. Money would be repaid per eight hour day in a five-and- eastern coast of Australia links by charging drivers a toll until the a-half day week. South Australia with debt was cleared, and the road They lived under canvas and and provides magnificent views would then be gifted to the state. ate in a communal dining along its entire length from Hitchcock’s financial support, marquee and kitchen. For Torquay to Allansford. from his Geelong drapery entertainment there was a piano, The highway hugs the coast- business, plus his enthusiasm and a gramophone, newspapers, line of the ‘Surf Coast’ from energy kept the project going. games and magazines at the Torquay to Cape Otway and About 3,000 returned camps. continues west along the servicemen were employed, on In 1924, the ship Casino ‘Shipwreck Coast’ before being de-mobbed, to build the became stranded near Cape meandering through rainforests. road. Construction began on Patton after hitting a reef at Point Plans for the Great Ocean September 1, 1919 as a desig- Hawdon. There is a legend that it Road were published in the late nated war memorial for fellow jettisoned 500 barrels of beer war years by New Zealand born servicemen who had been killed and 120 cases of spirits which engineer, William Calder (1860- in World War I. The advance road workers found, resulting in 1928) who was the Chairman of survey team progressed through an unscheduled two-week-long ’s Country Roads Board. dense wilderness at about drinking break. Calder asked the State War three kilometres a month. On March 18, 1922 the Council for funds to be provided Construction was done by hand; section from Eastern View to for returned soldiers to work on using explosives, pick and shovel, Lorne was officially opened with roads in sparsely populated areas wheelbarrows, and some small celebrations. However, it was in Victoria’s Western District. machinery, and was at times then closed from May 10, 1922 Until then, the rugged south-west perilous. Several workers were for further work; opening again coast of Victoria was accessible killed on the job. The final on December 21, along with tolls only by sea or rough bush sections along steep coastal to recoup construction costs. The track. It was envisaged that the mountains were the most charge, payable at Eastern View, road would connect isolated difficult to work on. was initially 20 cents for motor settlements on the coast and cars, and $1.00 for wagons with become a vital transport link for more than two horses. the timber industry and tourism. Surveying for the road, first titled the South Coast Road, began in 1918 with an initial plan to link Barwon Heads, south east of Geelong, with Warnambool. In 1918, the Great Ocean Road Trust was formed as a private company, under the helm of President, Howard Hitchcock, the benevolent Mayor of Geelong. The company secured $162,000 in capital from private subscription and borrowing, with The Great Ocean Road

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In November 1932, the section from Lorne to Apollo Bay was finished thereby completing the road. It was officially opened by Victoria's Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Irvine at a ceremony near Lorne. The road was acknowledged as the world's largest war memorial. Melbourne newspaper, The Age commented, "In the face of almost insurmountable odds, the Great Ocean Road has materialised from a dream or 'wild-cat scheme', as many dubbed it, into concrete reality. Although Mr Hitchcock had died of heart disease on August 22, 1932, Howard Hitchcock Memorial before the road was completed, his car was driven behind the governor's in In its original state, the road others to proceed in the opposite the procession along the road was considered a formidable direction during the opening ceremony. A drive, fitting only a single vehicle On October 1936, the road was memorial was constructed in his comfortably at a time. Areas with paid for and handed to the State name on the road at Mount sheer cliffs would be most Government and tolls removed. Defiance, near Lorne, and he is hazardous, with only a few places In 2011, the road was added to still affectionately considered for drivers to pull over to allow the Australian National Heritage the Father of the Road. List.

A winding section of The Great Ocean Road Tickets paying the toll fee circa 1930

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The U.S. Tuskagee Airmen

The recent location in Austria of a US Airforce P-51 Mustang fighter plane containing the remains of a Captain which crashed in December 1944 has brought into the spotlight the so- called Tuskegee Airmen.

He was the first of 27 The group was an all- Tuskegee Airmen listed as black World War II US ‘missing in action’ to be found. fighter squadron that The 24-year-old captain in became and remains a the powerful national symbol took off in his fighter plane for U.S. civil rights. from a base in Italy to conduct They formed the 332nd an aerial reconnaissance Fighter Group and the mission on December 23, 1944. 477th Bombardment During the return the Group of the US Air Force. Mustang's engine failed and the The name also applies plane was seen crashing along to the navigators, the Italy-Austria border, the bombardiers, mechanics, Pentagon said. instructors, crew chiefs, Searches for the crash site nurses, cooks and other Captain Lawrence Dickson were unsuccessful, and in 1949, support personnel. the US military declared his All black military pilots who included the 100th, 301st and remains non-recoverable. trained in the United States 302nd Fighter Squadrons, was In 2012, an American trained at Moton Field, near the first black flying group. It recovery team found the crash Tuskegee, Alabama. deployed to Italy in early 1944. site in Austria after receiving They were educated at In June 1944, the 332nd Fighter information from an Austrian nearby . Group began flying heavy researcher. The group included five Haitians bomber escort missions and, in The team found wreckage from the Haitian Air Force and July 1944, with the addition of matching Mr Dickson's type of one pilot from Trinidad and one the 99th Fighter Squadron, it fighter. airman form the Dominican had four fighter squadrons. Excavations conducted over Republic. The 99th Fighter Squadron four weeks in the summer of Although the 477th was initially equipped with 2017 by the University of New Bombardment Group trained Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter- Orleans and Austria's University with North American B-25 bomber aircraft. of Innsbruck resulted in the Mitchell bombers they never recovery of human remains. served in combat. The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later called 99th Fighter Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy over-seas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and Italy). The 332nd Fighter Group which originally

P-51 Mustang fighter B-25 Mitchell bomber

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The 332nd Fighter Group and The Tuskegee Airmen were the American military was racially its 100th, 301st and 302nd the first African-American segregated, as was much of the Fighter Squadrons were equipped military aviators in the United federal government. The for initial combat missions with States Armed Forces. During Tuskegee Airmen were subjected Bell P-39 Airacobras (March World War II, black Americans in to discrimination, both within 1944), later with the aircraft with many U.S. states were still and outside the army. which they became most subject to the Jim Crow laws and commonly associated, the P-51 Mustang fighter (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s red, the nickname "" was coined. The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of P-51s as well as a red rudder; the P-51B and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB LIMITED

Patron: Major General Arthur Fittock AO Board of Directors: President: John Robertson Senior Vice President: David Ford Junior Vice President: Ted Codd Hon. Treasurer: John Brogan Directors: Stephen Ware, Glenn Tetley, Scott Heathwood, Marc Higgins. Greg Hanchard Editor: Bob Lawrence

Secretary Manager: John Robertson

Club Ph: 02 9235 1533 Email: [email protected] www.gallipoli.com.au

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'Mother Chisholm's' canteens

Two ladies from country New South Wales devoted years of service in World War One to running canteens in war zones for Australian soldiers.

When Alice Chisholm’s son, distinction of rank or army. Bertram was wounded on Dormitories and dining-rooms Gallipoli, she travelled from her were built, flowers obtained, home at Kippilaw, near Goulburn butter on ice was served with NSW to Egypt to be near him. freshly baked bread. Perhaps The 59 year old widow was the greatest luxury, especially horrified at the inadequacy of the for men returning from the amenities in Cairo for Australian front, was the showers. 'Mother soldiers so she opened a canteen Chisholm's' became a cherished for soldiers, mainly funded by institution. her, in the outer suburb of Despite its growing size, Alice Heliopolis. ensured her service remained So strong was the response of personal. When troops arrived the Australian Imperial Force she she would walk through the opened a second canteen at Port ranks greeting them. Said assisted by Verania (Rania) Due to the efficient operation McPhillamy aged 26 of Forbes, up to 4000 soldiers were fed on NSW and Ettie Rout of New some days. Verania McPhillamy Zealand. Troops moving into Sinai In 1918 Rania McPhillamy and Palestine crossed the Suez opened branch canteens, at salad' appeared on the menu, Canal at Kantara and it was on Jerusalem and Rafa in Palestine. when Rania cornered the Cairo the west bank that a canteen was Mrs Chisholm and Rania, tinned-tongue market. Profits set up in a single tent in early cheerfully contended with heat, were used to reduce prices and 1916. sand, wind, flies and scarcity of improve accommodation. At their own expense, they built water. No man was ever refused up a soldiers' club capable of a meal and wastage was minimal. catering for thousands without For some time 'iced tongue and

The popular canteen operated at Kantara by Alice Chisholm and Miss McPhillamy

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General Allenby considered their Goulburn which she had work 'heroic', and with his proposed and gained approval and assistance Rania community support to build. opened the Jerusalem branch The Australian Government canteen in the summer of 1918. recognised her contribution in Ignoring the sound of heavy 1918 by appointing her to the artillery, she was soon providing Order of the British Empire. In many meals daily and, as at 1920 she was made Dame Alice Kantara, refreshments were Chisholm. taken to hospital trains passing In peace time she channelled through. When she took over the her energy to helping country next-door house of a wealthy people and animals. Dame German, she created a 'home Alice was president of the away from home', with curtains, Cumberland branch of the tablecloths, comfortable chairs Country Women's Association and a piano. She inspired great (1923-27) and a life time Alice Chisholm by George Lambert, loyalty among her staff. After the supported of the Royal Society drawn at Kantara 1918 Armistice she moved her canteen for the Prevention of Cruelty to He became government medical to the Anzac Mounted Division Animals. officer at Moree, where two of camped in the desert at Rafa. She Survived by two sons and a their children were born. found it 'heavy work', but also daughter, she died in May 1954 She was a founding member of ran open-air picture shows. Two aged 97 and was buried in the the local branch of the Country months later she was forced to Church of England cemetery at Women's Association of New leave at short notice when the Kippilaw. South Wales in 1922, and with Egyptians rebelled. Rania was described as “Slim, her husband helped to establish a Appreciating the need for with large blue eyes, a lively baby health centre in 1925. After amenities on the troopships expression and a quirkish sense visiting Europe together in 1927 which would take the Light Horse of humour”. She was beloved by Single practised in Macquarie and the Flying Corps home, the the Australian desert troops, who Street, Sydney. two ladies directed profits to presented her with a jade Dr Single died at their Woollahra providing personal comfort items necklace. She was appointed home in 1931, leaving her with to soldiers as they joined the M.B.E. in 1918 and O.B.E. in four children. She served on the ships repatriating them home to 1920. council of the Australian Australia, Britain and New Rania, met a physician, Mothercraft Society, worked for Zealand. Lieutenant-Colonel Clive Vallack returned soldiers and in World When Alice closed the books on Single, D.S.O., of the 4th Light War II entertained pilots on the venture, she donated the Horse Field Ambulance on the leave. remaining profits to start the troopship returning to Australia. She died in 1961, survived by her Returned Soldiers' Club at They were married in June 1920. son and three daughters.

Alice Chisholm (left), with her daughter, at the canteen set up at Port Said, in 1916.

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Book Page: The Bite of the Lotus: an intimate memoir of the Vietnam War.

By Carl Robinson. (Published October 31,2019).

Described by a Pulitzer Prize- Throughout, a deep affection Yung and their three children. winning reviewer as “a real life glows for the Vietnamese among Through the 1980’s, Robinson sequel to Graham Greene’s whom he lived. was Australia & South Pacific classic The Quiet American,” this From its dramatic opening correspondent for Newsweek and story from an initially-idealistic chapter as Saigon is falling, this in the 1990’s opened the famous young civilian who lived and fast-paced and stirring memoir Old Saigon restaurant in Sydney’s worked in-country through the takes readers on a journey Newtown. He frequently re-visits entire Vietnam War offers a new through the epic arc of the today’s Vietnam running tours, and very unique perspective on Vietnam War, a personalised organising reunions and personal that defining struggle of the late history lesson on how the US explorations. 20th Century. became increasingly involved, Told in the candour and dark and Robinson’s role first as a humour of his adopted Australia, player and then observer. US-born Carl Robinson takes Full of astoundingly recalled readers on an intense personal details, many tragic and journey. That journey goes from comedic, his story is his enchanted arrival by ship in a colourful, brilliant and somnolent Saigon in early 1964, evocative. A true insider’s through being a provincial view of this devastating war. adviser in the Mekong Delta and After the Vietnam War’s then into the height of the end, Robinson was re- Vietnam War, an era of bitter assigned to Associated Press disillusionment, a passionate love (AP) headquarters in New affair and ultimately into hard York and transferred to drugs to eventually becoming a Sydney in 1977. Barely one cynical and burned-out journalist year later, however, his running for the last US heli- employment was termin- copters as South Vietnam fell to ated and, although still the Communists in April 1975. angry and bitter about the Along the way he befriended war, he stayed and started Sean Flynn, son of Errol, and John his life again with his Steinbeck IV. Vietnamese-born wife, Kim-

The book available from Carl Robinson, [email protected], 0420-495552 or Jess Lomas, [email protected], (03) 9654-5446.

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A Battle that Saw the Effect of “Pommy Bloody Mindedness”

By Bruce McEwan For the Anzacs, life on Gallipoli was both primitive and monotonous dull horror interspersed with actions against the enemy. Soldiers that served in other battlefields during WWI described Gallipoli as one of the worst of all. They slept, when they could, in dugouts along the sides of their trenches – for protection against shrapnel and to avoid the feet of other allied troops moving through.

Lice, flies, other insects and dysentery and paratyphoid. teeth and replacing them with rodents joined the men in these Many of the survivors would both upper and lower dentures. zig zag holes to add to their return home with permanent Drinking water was never misery. There was little respite digestion problems from ulcers readily available. It was carried from duty and the smell and the and parasites. Their livers and to the trenches in cans from the noise was horrific. Keeping kidneys suffered long term beach where it was stored in clean was made impossible by damage and diseases like iron tanks after being produced the lack of water for both malaria eliminated any chance in naval ships’ condensers. washing and drinking and on of returning to a “normal” life Supplies were hot in summer the rare occasions allowed, they back on home soil. and, conversely, frozen in the welcomed a plunge at the After many complaints, snowy winters and always had a beach despite being targeted potatoes were issued to the metallic taste that was from the heights above by men but they were given impossible to mask by boiling Turkish artillery and small arms nothing in which to cook them. and adding tea leaves. fire. Even when scurvy broke out no The noise of battle rarely let Breaks from the monotony fruit and vegetables reached up and the constant roar of rifle and constant fear were the ailing troops. An occasional shots, machine gun bursts, unavailable because of the issue of rum was welcomed but artillery fire from both sides and pressure of non-stop hand to insufficient to sustain an adult deafening explosions in the hand battle and the relentless male. trenches day and night from inherent danger. Trench foot, which crippled grenades and exploding The awful stench of rotting many of the fighting men in shrapnel shells. It was no bodies – allied and enemy – was their filthy hell-holes, also left wonder that chronic deafness sickening and could be smelled its legacy on those returning was to become their lifetime in the ships offshore and in home and rotting teeth burden. Turkish villages miles away. continued to exacerbate their Reinforcements soon Even the food was nutritional intake problems for learned what parts of the monotonous and not sustaining years after the war ended. battlefield were within the view – salty bully beef and rock hard Halitosis and trench mouth of enemy snipers who took a ship’s biscuits were the staple were common problems among heavy toll on the unwary. diet interspersed with slabs of Gallipoli veterans and dentists Especially selected were greasy cheese and cheap tinned in Australia and New Zealand officers, who stood out in their jam. It was no wonder that the were later kept busy rectifying tailored uniforms, distinctive troops suffered constantly with the damage to the troops’ headgear and bright regimental serious and debilitating mouths by extracting all the colour patches. stomach problems including remaining stumps of natural

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The swarms of flies that diminished. Eventually tens of and highly complex trench invaded the peninsula thousands had to be systems developed on both worsened as the numbers of evacuated to offer them some sides – often only a few feet dead grew and in only a few form of respite. apart and grenades and home- ceasefires was burial possible. The latrines built for the made bombs could be thrown These annoying insects made troops were rudimentary, from trench to trench. eating extremely difficult and unsuitable in terms of usage A fresh allied assault was the troops complained that and hygiene and only added to launched in August at the hills every mouthful contained the Anzacs’ daily misery. A known as Chunuk Bair and at several flies – the only fresh visit to the latrines was often the original sea landing beach component. extremely hazardous because in Suvla Bay. It was not until The extremes of weather the Turks knew they were almost Christmas that the sapped the troop’s energy and usually crowded and targeted hopelessness of the situation left them more susceptible to them day and night with was realised at last and illnesses and diseases – artillery and machine gun fire. evacuation planned. Anzac especially those they had The allied commanders and Suvla were first to be never developed any knew the narrow Gallipoli cleared and Hellas followed in resistance to in their peninsula was unsuited to this January. Allied losses were homelands. There was no kind of warfare but they minimised by common sense escape from the extreme heat attempted a two-pronged planning and stealth. of summer and frostbites invasion in April 1915 The campaign saw the caused terrible problems in regardless. The failure to emergence of a new style of the Gallipoli winters when progress at either Cape Hellas nationalist leader in Turkey, in winds shifted to the north. of Gaba Tepe (Anzac Cove) the shape of Mustafa Kemal In their lousy and filthy failed to dissuade the later to become self-styled as uniforms, clothing that was commanders and they Ataturk. It marked the decline inadequate for the extremes persisted through what the of the Ottoman Empire and of the local climate, the Anzacs described as “Pommy the emergence of a new troops’ will to fight was Bloody-Mindedness”. nationalism that only under its eroded and their ability to Advances against the current leaders is reverting to offer effective combat skills enemy were rare and costly a secular religious society.

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Continued from page 1.

History

USS Grayback (SS-208) was signals directed the small boat China Sea, sinking three ships and launched in Connecticut in back with the rescued aviators. damaging three. With only two January 1941 and commissioned For this action new skipper torpedoes remaining, she was on June 30 1941 with Lieutenant Edward Stephan received the ordered home from patrol. Due Willard A. Saunders in command. Navy Cross and the US Army’s to reach Midway on March 7, She was attached to the Silver Star. Grayback did not arrive. On Atlantic Fleet but with the United Grayback continued on patrol, March 30 she was listed as States's entry into the war, torpedoing and damaging several missing and presumed lost with Grayback was repositioned to Japanese ships. On January 17 all hands. Pearl Harbour in February 1942. she attacked a destroyer Captured Japanese records On June 22 she arrived at escorting Japanese merchant revealed that in late February, Fremantle, WA. Australian waters ships. The destroyer evaded her Grayback used her last two would remain her home region torpedoes and dropped 19 depth torpedoes to sink the freighter for much of the war. charges which damaged Ceylon Maru, before being On 5 January 1943 Grayback Grayback. Leaking seriously, spotted by a Japanese carrier- served as beacon ship for the Grayback was ordered back to based plane on the surface and bombardment of Munda Bay in Brisbane for repairs. attacked. Japanese reports stated the Solomon Islands and also Departing Brisbane in April, that the submarine "exploded engaged in rescue work. Lying off Grayback intercepted a Japanese and sank immediately", but Munda early on January 5, she convoy sinking two cargo ships antisubmarine craft were called received word that six survivors and seriously damaging a in to depth-charge the area, of a crashed bomber were destroyer and two other cargo clearly marked by a trail of air stranded on the island. Grayback ships. Soon after she was bubbles, until at last a heavy oil sent two men ashore, then directed to San Francisco for a slick swelled to the surface. submerged at dawn to avoid much-needed overhaul and Grayback’s last patrol cost the enemy aircraft. The submariners modernization. enemy 21,594 tons of shipping. located the downed aviators, Grayback's tenth patrol, her Grayback ranked 20th among all three of whom were injured, and most successful in terms of submarines in total tonnage sunk hid out with them in the jungle. tonnage sunk, was also to be her with 63,835 tons and 24th in As night fell, Grayback surfaced last. She sailed from Pearl Harbor number of ships sunk with 14 offshore and by coded light on January 28,1944 for the East kills.

USS Grayback in 1941

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The RAAF in the Battle for Sicily

Bob Lawrence looks at the major role the RAAF played in the Sicily campaign as the allies took the offensive in World War Two

A major campaign that put Division of the 2nd-AIF to Egypt ground attack roles, strikes on the Allies on the front foot and as an attached army co- enemy shipping and defending resulted in victory in World War operation squadron. ground forces and bombers Two was the invasion of Sicily in They were equipped with from enemy aircraft. mid-1943. Gloster Gauntlet and Gladiator They participated in the first While the focus of Australian fighters and later with Hawker Allied campaign in Libya (1940- forces by then was on the Hurricanes to support British 1941) supporting the invasion Pacific War, Australian were Commonwealth land forces in of Syria in mid-1941. In involved in the Sicily campaign the Western Desert from September 1941, the squadron that led to the takeover of Italy. November 1940. returned to North Africa, The Allied invasion of Sicily, From then until 1945, the 3 helping to take Tunisia in May codenamed Operation Husky, Squadron was one of the most 1943. started with airborne and active squadrons in the RAAF, The squadron, from its base amphibious operations backed known for undertaking in Malta, supported Allied up by a land campaign which conventional reconnaissance, operations in Sicily in July- exposed rivalries between the August 1943. Once Sicily was US leader, General Patton and taken they moved north into Britain’s Bernard Montgomery. Italy until the end of the war. Notable among the From May 1941 the Australians was the Royal American single-engined, Australian Air Force Number single-seat, all-metal fighter and Three Squadron. ground-attack aircraft the Curtis Originally formed in 1925, it P-40 and its variants known as was one of twelve permanent Tomahawks and Kittyhawks. RAAF Squadrons at the start of These were replaced P-51 WW2. Mustangs in November 1944. Soon after war began, the General Montgomery stoops his car to talk squadron accompanied the 6th to men of the Royal Engineers workin on a road near Catania, Sicily, August 1943

A CAC CA-18 Mustang Warbird painted to represent a North American P-51 Mustang of No. 3 Squadron used in Italy during World War II

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The Squadron's war ended painted on the rudder, starting a He became an influential with the surrender of German tradition continued by the re- figure in the air force’s modern- forces in Italy in May 1945. Since incarnated Squadron to the isation; two reviews were held November 1940, the squadron current day. under his authority. The first has been credited with shooting There were 12 Commanding resulted in the RAAF College down 217 - enemy aircraft, Officers of the Squadron (see (which trained the air force’s making it the highest scoring box). future leaders) introducing British Commonwealth squadron tertiary education and sub- in the Mediterranean theatre of Commanding Officers of 3 sequently becoming the RAAF operations. It destroyed another Squadron Academy. 29 aircraft on the ground in Richards, Athol Xavier In 1975 he joined several addition to 709 motor vehicles, McLachlan, Ian Dougald other prominent retired senior 28 water vessels of varying sizes, Jeffrey, Peter officers to advocate for the and 12 locomotives. Rawlinson, Alan Charles acquisition by Australia of nuclear The squadron sailed to Chapman, Dixie Robison weapons. Australia from Egypt in Gibbes, Robert Henry Maxwell The longest serving September 1945 and was Barr, Andrew William 'Nicky' commander was fighter ace disbanded in July 1946. However, Eaton, Brian Alexander who was officially 3 Squadron was reformed in Stevens, Reginald Noel Basil credited with 10¼ aerial victories, 1948. Nash, Murray Percival although his score is often In Italy, the squadron adorned Bayly, Rex Howard reported as 12, including two its aircraft with a Southern Cross Richards, Kenneth Albert shared. Gibbes was also credited with five aircraft probably The second commander, Ian destroyed, and a further 16 McLachlan later served in British damaged. Commonwealth Occupation After the war Gibbes moved Force in Japan and, from October to New Guinea, pioneering the 1951, commanded the RAAF’s island's transport, coffee and North Eastern Area headquarters, hospitality industries. In January Townsville before becoming 1948, he formed Gibbes Sepik director of flying training with the Airways with a fleet or planes in January 1955 that included three German and, on his return to Australia in Junkers. Another Squadron 1957, air officer commanding Commander, Nicky Barr, was a Training Command (April 1957– short-term partner in the September 1959). venture. Captain Bobby Gibbes

Modern planes of the squadron carry the Southern Cross emblem 16

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