Vol. 50, No. 3 (New Series) SPRING 2020 THE GALLIPOLI GAZETTE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB LTD Edward 'Teddy' Sheean VC We review the history of Australia’s latest Victoria Cross winner who died defending his crewmates as HMAS Armidale sank near Timor. The news from Governor- two years at sea when he died and his wife Mary Jane. Soon General David Hurley that Queen while serving on the minesweeper afterwards the family moved to Elizabeth II had approved the HMAS Armidale when it came Latrobe. posthumous awarding of the under heavy attack from Japanese In his teenage years Teddy took Victoria Cross to Edward 'Teddy' aircraft off the coast of Timor-Leste casual work on farms between Sheean marked the end of a long in 1942. Latrobe and Merseylea. In Hobart campaign to gain the award for this Sheean is recorded as helping on 21 April 1941 he enlisted in the Australian World War Two hero. launch life rafts before returning to Royal Australian Naval Reserve as The announcement followed fire at enemy aircraft, despite the an ordinary seaman, following in Prime Minister Scott Morrison order having been given to aban- the steps of five of his brothers recommending the Ordinary don ship. who had joined the armed forces. Seaman be awarded Australia's Edward Sheean was born on After his initial training, he was highest military honour. 28 December 1923 at Lower sent to Flinders Naval Depot, The 18-year-old had less than Barrington, Tasmania, fourteenth Westernport, Victoria, in February child of James Sheean labourer, 1942 for further instruction. Dale Marsh's painting of Teddy Sheean hangs in the Australian War Memorial. (Australian War Memorial) Continued page 11. 1 Editorial This edition of the Gazette when the nation backed Hurley that Queen Elizabeth II commemorates two anniver- President Truman in standing up had approved the posthumous saries, the 75th anniversary of the to the invaders of South Korea. awarding of the Victoria Cross to signing of the war in the Pacific Another 340 lives were to be lost Edward 'Teddy' Sheean whose and the start of the Korean War from among the 17,000 who story of World War Two heroism five years later. served. has been carried in a previous Australia rejoiced when Japan The Pacific also gives us the edition. announced its surrender, as we story of Anzac Day commem- The 18-year-old Tasmanian had done three months earlier orations in the Tahitian capital, died while shooting at Japanese when Germany surrendered. The Papeete, which centre on the aircraft swooping to attack the signing of the official documents graves of two Australasian minesweeper HMAS Armidale off ending the Pacific War happened soldiers who were buried from the coast of Timor-Leste in 1942 in early September, officially hospital ships that docked in the and its struggling crew members as they climbed into escape craft. ending six years of horror that harbour during World War One. In addition, our President claimed over 27,000 Australian We also look back to the John Robertson updates military lives worldwide and Pioneers who served with members on the Club and the devastated the families and distinction in World War One. progress of building works for our friends of the deceased. It was a pleasure to start the new premises. A feeling of gloom settled edition with the announcement over Australia five years later by Governor-General David 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: 9235 1533 Email: [email protected] www.gallipoli.com.au 2 Australia marks the end of World War II On August 15, Australia celebrated the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific. Japan surrendered uncondit- from hosting a large public com- General Angus Campbell, reflected ionally to the Allied forces, ending memoration on August 15. on the moment when the terrible the deadliest conflict in history, However, a small ceremony of conflict finally ended. World War II, with the documents invited guests, including the “Seventy-five years ago, a weary officially signed on September 2 on Governor General, David Hurley, Australia laid down its arms and felt board the US war ship Missouri in Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a the first, joyous stirrings of peace. Tokyo Bay. handful of surviving veterans, was In the forests of Borneo, the This year, the coronavirus broadcast live so the nation could soldiers finally laid their arms and pandemic prevented the memorial join in. had pause to listen to the songbirds The Chief of the Defence Force, in the trees. The Official Surrender High-ranking military officials of the Allied Powers met aboard the Missouri on September 2, including Australia’s General Sir Thomas Blamey, British Admiral of the Fleet Sir Bruce Fraser, New Zealand Air Vice Marshall Leonard Isitt, Chinese General Hsu Yung-Ch’ang, Soviet Lieutenant-General Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko, Canadian Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrove, French General d’Armee Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Dutch Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich, US Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and US General Douglas MacArthur who was the Supreme Commander for the Allies. The Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu arrived at 8.56am. At 0.902 am General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and opened the 23-minute surrender ceremony to the waiting world by stating "It is my earnest hope—indeed the hope of all mankind—that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice." Unconditional surrender documents were signed and by 09:30 the Japanese emissaries had departed. 3 Ships across the Pacific spliced Fewer than 3,000 Australian The soldiers of the 2nd AIF the mainbrace and an extra ration WW11 veterans are alive today”. were deployed across Europe, of rum warmed a sailor's heart. The Australian War Memorial's Africa and the Middle East — and The engines of Kittyhawks, head of military history, Dr Karl closer to home as Japanese forces Boomerangs and Beaufighters James, told the ABC that said the launched direct attacks on were quiet, even if their crews were nation's armed forces were "tiny" Australia's mainland. not. in 1939. More than one million Aus- At home, telegrams bearing the Dr James said, “We had a very tralian men and women served in saddest of news slowed to a trickle small army — the Militia — we had the war. and eventually stopped. a very small navy and we had a About 40,000 of those never An entire country had been tiny air force. returned home, killed or dying as called to serve what was right and So when the war broke out, one war prisoners. good. of the things that Australia did Globally, more than 50 million A great victory had been won contribute to this global effort was soldiers and civilians were killed — at great cost to all. men. just a generation after the so- called ‘war to end all wars’.” USS Missouri (BB-63) an Iowa class battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, which ended World War II. Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theatre of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands. Later she fought in the Korean War (1950-1953). She was decommissioned in 1955 into the US Navy Reserve Fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship plan on President Reagan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm (January/February 1991). Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on March 31, 1992 after serving a total of 17 years of active service, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbour. 4 70th Anniversary of the start of the Korean War In June this year, Australia commemorated the seventieth anniversary of the start of the Korea War. A mere five years after as they were forced further down Council was aided by Russia Second World War ended, the Korean peninsula, which boycotting the UN over its lack of Australia became involved in the allowed defensive positions to be recognition of the communist Korean War. The Royal Australian set up around the port city of Chinese government. With the Navy (RAN), Royal Australian Air Pusan. Russian delegate absent and Force (RAAF), and the Australian Within two days of the war’s unable to veto any resolution, Army became involved soon after beginning, US President Harry S. the UN was able to act decisively the war began and would serve Truman committed US navy and and commit forces from willing for the next three years in the air force units to aid South Korea.