Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak briefly today regarding the date, which is 7 December. It is the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941. Pearl Harbor was the event which led to the entry into World War II of the Americans. It was a turning point in the war, a day which was described by the then President of the United States, President Roosevelt, as ‘a day of infamy’. It was a time when over 2,300 military and 68 civilians were killed, over 1,100 military and 35 civilians were wounded, four battleships were sunk, four battleships were damaged, three cruisers were damaged, three destroyers were sunk and two other ships were sunk. It was a catastrophic attack. It unleashed the might of America into World War II, and in that respect it was a turning point. It is a time that we in Australia remember as being the commencement in many ways of the alliance with the Americans, and there have been a number of engagements since.

I had the privilege last year of going to Pearl Harbor to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific as part of a mission which involved the former minister, some 20 veterans and other representatives of the ex-service community. It was a very important time to go and see some of those very important historical sites but also to gain an understanding of what many of the veterans had been through. It was a very representative group. It went across all the services. There was a war widow and an army nurse. It was a great privilege, as I said, talking to those veterans about their experiences, where they were able to talk about them as sometimes it was a bit difficult. They were a very mixed group and a lot of fun to be with. It was certainly a great privilege to spend that time with them last year, for those few days. The highlight was the commemorative ceremony on the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. The Missouri was of course where, some 60 years earlier, the Japanese signed the surrender on the deck. As I said, it was an interesting time to be there with those veterans.

I will go through some of the experiences that those ladies and gentlemen had been through. Max Gilbert had been on Ambon with Gull Force and had become a prisoner of war. John Lemcke, from Caboolture, in Queensland, had been operating Beaufort bombers. Frankie McGovern, from New South Wales, had been on the Perth, which had the misfortune to be sunk in the battle of the Sunda Strait along with the USS Houston. He was then captured and later, after being taken on a ship to Japan, was sunk again and then recaptured. So he had a very tough time of it. Frankie also lost his elder brother on the Perth.

Jim Short was a representative of the merchant navy, and we all know the great work that the merchant marines did in that time, often at risk of sinking by enemy submarines or attack by bombers. Charles Edwards had a very interesting story. He did a lot of media back to Australia to highlight what was occurring on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. He was a POW as well. In fact, he was working in a bakery at a POW camp in Japan, just a few miles from Hiroshima, and was awake at the time of the bomb going off. He told quite a haunting tale of his experiences with respect to that particular time.

Hugh Eadie fought at Sanananda. Alex Cumming flew Catalina flying boats, Harold Ogilvie, from Tasmania, worked in radar. Les Cook, from the ACT, fought at Balikpapan, in Borneo. Greg Rosman was with the RAF. Ronald Scott was in the Army through 1943 to 1947. Jack Storey was from Bendigo and was a schoolteacher. He fought in the RAF from 1940 to 1945. I mentioned that there was a representative from the war widows there, Norma Allen. She was a very interesting lady to have a talk to. Jean Brown was there from the Army Nursing Service. There were a number of other veterans there: George Churchward, Fred Anderson, Cedric Wells and George Willrath. All of them had interesting stories to tell about their experiences at a time which was very important to Australia, a time that we need to remember for the sacrifice of that generation and a time when we really needed them. (Time expired)