Description
Object description
Australian NCO served with 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry Bde, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Papua New Guinea, 12/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Albany, Australia, 1924-1942: family; family's military service in First World War; early sporting ambitions; effects of Depression; signing up to join Royal Australian Navy. Aspects of period with Australian Army in Australia, 1942-1944: background to enlistment 1942; degree of prior knowledge of Japanese forces; opinion of United States Army troops and General Douglas MacArthur; equipment and weapons; reaction to period as conscript; training in Queensland; degree of prior knowledge of Papua New Guinea; opinion of General Thomas Blamey. Recollections of operations as private with 18 Platoon, 2/11th Australian Infantry Bn, 19th Australian Infantry Bde, 6th Australian Infantry Div in Papua New Guinea, 12/1944-8/1945: conditions during voyage from Australia to Papua New Guinea.
REEL 2 Continues: disembarking at Aitape; question of role of Australian Army troops; initial impressions of Papua New Guinea coloured by insect bite; weather conditions; conditions in camp; reaction to smell of dead Imperial Japanese Army corpses; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army fighting skills; problems of carrying additional equipment through jungle; personal equipment carried; Imperial Japanese Army tactics; use of booby-traps; night-time conditions in slit trenches; threats from dangerous leaves; accidental United States Army Air Force bombing of Australian positions; crossing swamp; daily routine; amusing story of making his colleagues stand to all night; rations; advance to Point 7/10, 14/5/1945; failure of initial attack on Point 7/10; further attacks in attempts to capture Point 7/10, 5/1945; platoon charge on pillboxes.
REEL 3 Continues: reaction to being in action; under Imperial Japanese Army machine gun fire; wounding of his cousin; effect on personal morale of death of cousin; hearing of end of war in Europe, 8/5/1945; lack of celebration on VJ Day, 15/8/1945; condition of Japanese prisoners of war; background to return to Australia; reaction to leaving Australian Army; water parties in Papua New Guinea; adjusting to civilian life, 1945; memories of post-war visit to Papua New Guinea, 1945; attitude to having served with Australian Army in Second World War.
