History Australias Pearl Harbour - Did you know?

[Bally]

2 months after Pearl.





The port of Darwin and surrounds, over the entirety of WWII was attacked over 64 times. Not once. Vid describes the history, aftermath and remembrance.

US ships and planes lay at the bottom. Amongst our own. I sounded out and anchored above a destroyer. RIP our US sailors and defenders.

Lest we forget. My dad was there but rarely talked about this.

My regards,

Bally.

 

[Freija]

Thank you for sharing, great post!

I'm not sure I've ever heard about this but being an idiot American, what can you expect?

 

[Bally]

Thank you for sharing, great post!

I'm not sure I've ever heard about this but being an idiot American, what can you expect?

Nah, don't say that. I never think that way about Americans. This is a little piece of war history that over time, is remembered reverently. Heck, even Sydney Harbour was attacked. Little is said about that. Might pop it in a post one day.

I hope war never comes to your shores physically. But most of the old diggers (soldiers) have passed on. These things should be remembered.

Big turn around is that we're buying destroyers from Japan. Never figured why we couldn't build our own.

Yanks always had our backs (except in the Battle of Brisbane, funny story that) and without that backing I don't think I would be here. And for that I'm grateful.

Kind regards,

Bally)

 

[Kenzo]

I never knew Japs did that in Darwin .

 

[EndtheMadnessNow]

I was aware of Darwin as the ship I was on pulled into port once. But, did not know the battle was that intense.

 

[worked4dhs]

so were the five Kittyhawks circling to land?
or combat / air patrol?

 

[Bally]

so were the five Kittyhawks circling to land?
or combat / air patrol?

I'm pretty sure it was just a routine air patrol. There were also several Catalinas in the harbour. Some were damaged or sunk. In subsequent raids the Japanese hit other airbases where my father was stationed. There followed the tragic short sighted thinking that the Japenese were going to invade Darwin much like Singapore and subsequent evacuations took place.

The short clip from the movie Australia gives a little insight to the 1st raid.

Kind regards,

Bally

 

[Bally]

I lived in Darwin for several years. The stories hit hard. Emotionally. As my father was not allowed to talk about it. At table - just eat yer dinner. Interestingly, off topic, on the evening of 6th April, 1966, at dinner, after work that day, my father said, "It sounded like the bombings of Darwin. "Westall". Planes flying around. Now I wonder if he suffered PTSD.

Sad, poor man, who wasn't allowed to talk, as I look at it nowadays. Always stuck with me.

Kind regards,

Bally(