Lest we forget.

My grandfather died early last month and he was serving on the only ship to be fully lit up during the D Day landing. He volunteered to be part of the landing but was re assigned to be part of the crew to man the hospital ship. Those people had to be some of the most courageous ones at the time. To be stationed on a fully lit up ship so close to the enemy took some guts. He never spoke much of his travels during the war but I am now slowly gathering info as to where he went and what ships he served on.
I thank him and everyone else that have fought for world freedom and hope that we never have to face the hardships that they did.

Lest we forget.

Kev

Probably our greatest legacy of the WW1 diggers was that during WW2 the Japanese seriously considered a full blown invasion of Australia but decided against it on the basis of the number of troops they would have to commit . In an almost unique instance of Japanese military caution , they calculated that they wuold need 10 Divisions for an invasion , and at that stage they couldn't spare that many .

Yes, it was believed that the bombing of Dawin & the other attacks were offensive but the Japanese now say they were just testing our metle...My Dad was in the RAAF & they used to patrol the South Coast of NSW where Japanese subs were actively sinking shipping. Dad tells me about how they attacked (in a Catalina flyingboat mind you) a very large sub east of Cape Howe that had run aground in typically foul Bass Straight weather with Midget Subs on it's deck, they recon it was heading for Port Philip...Of Course Dad (now 85) still has to fight the DVA every inch of the way & only recently found another of his old aircrew that could validate his story & get him a "gold card"....
Other things have since come to light as well in as much as the Japanese believed that there was a railway from Darwin to Adelaide, & that the interior of Australia was a suitable place for them to colonise & could not understand why all the big cities in Australia were on the coast, they believed that Australia was supplying England with fruit grown in Central Australia....
We were indeed fortunate that the Japanese were so illinformed because had they invaded we could not have defended ourselves...We would have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers... But then of course the logistics of invading in say the Kimberly intent on taking over the country are interesting to say the least....

Also as an ex serviceman (RAN) - LEST WE FORGET...

Hey there Mr Fawlty, so your a froot loop eh LOL. A few months ago while having a quiet beer at the local I noticed a fracas out the back of the pub. turned out a number of indigenous people were giving this poor old bloke a bit of a going over. I stepped in to even things up a bit and after soughting a couple of them out, helped the poor bloke get to his feet. To cut a long story short, turned out he was a Vietnam Vet, been seperated for years, lived on his own in a shack I wouldnt keep my dog in and drank like a fish. I realised he was a decent bloke and over the past few months have helped him repair and paint his place, put a bit of meat on his bones etc. Ive seen his photos and medals, but he very rarely talks of the war. All he says is it was a" hell on earth". He still drinks too much and I aint going to stop him, suppose its his way of forgetting. We're mates now, I dont know if he'll ever be 100%, probably too many bad memories, but Im proud he considers me a cobber. Sometimes we sit and have a beer together and not a word is spoken, other times you cant shut him up. I know it wasnt our war, but my sincerest thanks to all that served over there.........................nissnut

On ya bud...That's the true Aussie spirit.

Grrr!!!