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Townsville at War by John Hall

Page history last edited by Trisha Fielding 14 years, 7 months ago

 

War in the pacific area started in December 1941.  By mid 1942 thousands of united states soldiers and airmen had arrived in townsville.  The main reason for selecting townsville was that it had a working sea port which was indeed the closest to America.  Luckily the Americans were friendly folk because Seargents and commissioned officers had Colt 45 pistols strapped around their waists.
 
The hotels had 2 one hour sessions per day.  Town water supply was turned off at 8.00pm each evening.  Petrol was severely rationed but if you were "in the know" for ten pounds (2 weeks wages at the time) the Americans would drop a 50-gallon drum at your property in the middle of the night.
 
Butter, tea and meat as well as clothing were rationed.  (The government supplied ration books for these items.)  For breakfast we had only rolled oats or Vita Brits, Cornflakes and Rice Bubbles were not permitted to be sent north of Brisbane because they took up "too much room" on the trains.
 
There were no lollies or chocolates.  To compensate we would buy a can of condensed milk and punch two small holes in the can and drink half.  The two holes would be fitted with wooden plugs and we would drink the rest the next day. 
 
The American pilots were not really well trained or experienced. They had very many crashes around Townsville.  Usually when a plane crashed the remainder of the squadron would take off and circle the crash scene so that the pilots would not later lose their nerve or their will to fly.  New airstrips were built at Woodstock, near the Weir school, and also at the Bohle.  There was a large fighter base at Charters Towers because of the gain in altitude when protecting Townsville.
 
The port was super busy working 168 hours per week.  At one stage 45 cargo ships were anchored in Cleveland Bay waiting to be unloaded.  Four LST (land sea tankers) pulled up on The Strand at the area now occupied by the Rockpool.  They discharged lots of U.S. marines and a great deal of heavy war equipment much to the delight of Townsville residents.
 
We suffered 3 air raids conducted by single large Japanese flying boats.  The raids were usually made about 11.00pm.  There was an anti-aircraft battery at Pallarenda but the bombers flew at an altitude beyond the reach of our guns.
 
On two occasions bombs were dropped - a few near the harbour and one at the D.P.I. station at Oonoonba.  Thankfully there was no real damage and no casualties.  During the battle of coral sea some flying fortresses and liberator bombers returned to townsville in badly damaged condition.  In many instances the tail gunner did not survive.  A large U.S.military cemetery was established at Belgian Gardens. All coffins were zinc lined and when the war finished they were exhumed and returned to America.
 
Many townsville girls were married to Americans and as soon as the war was over they were shipped to the U.S. at government expense.  Most of them we believe were very happy with their lives in a new country.  The use of cameras was severely restricted as a wartime precaution so that no photos will accompany this story.

 

 

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