RAE Kevin John VX55546 B Coy [F Force]

Private Kevin John RAE VX55546

Kevin John Rae was born 27 April 1920 at Mt Egerton the son of Stanley Rupert Rae and his wife Catherine Elizabeth Keigherty

Kevin was a labourer when he enlisted 12 May 1941 and on 1 July 1941 attached to the 2/29th Battalion in B company.

Embarked 30.7.41

POW Changi

Great World Work Party

F Force

Pasir Pajang Work Party

Returned Changi 21.8.45

Suffered

Infected feet 24.8.43

Malaria 24.5.43

Returned Esperance Bay

Married Valerie Mary Watts in 1950

Kevin died 1979 – Valerie in 2009

Buried at Brighton Cemetery Melbourne

"We Will Remember Them"

BOURKE William VX53798 B Coy [Muar]

William Bourke was born on 16 March 1905 in Sassafras Tasmania. He enlisted on 22 April 1941 at Royal Park. William was killed in action on 27 January 1942 and is remembered on the roll of honour at Railton Tasmania.

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RILEY William Gerald VX41142 B Coy [F Force]

Pte Riley was living in Carlton and enlisted when he was 23 years old.

He joined the 2/29th Battalion and trained at Bonegilla and Bathurst Camps before being transported to Singapore.

He was reported missing between 18 & 22 1.1942 and reported as a Prisoner of War at Kuala Lumpa on 17.7.1942. He was returned to Singapore on 3.10.1942 having been captured on 25.1.1942.

He worked on F Force Was evacuated to hospital on 31.8.1943 and died at Kanchanaburi Hospital on 19.9.1943 of Beri Beri and cholera and buried at Kanchanaburi.

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Pte Riley - Front Right. Probably taken Bonegilla 1940

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Pte Riley - Bottom Right. Photo taken Bonegilla 1940

WATTS James Leslie VX38501 B Coy [Ch]

David Rees has supplied this fascinating video interview of his Uncle Pte Jim Watts VX 38501 2/29th Battalion B Company.

Jim past away in June 2010

"Jim Watts volunteered for service in WW2 in 1940. After doing his basic training he was appointed to B Company 2/29th battalion. Jim loved Army life, plenty of tucker and PT training! He said it was a pity the Japs has to come along and spoil it. Hailing from Inglewood Victoria Jim came from a hard working country family. He excelled at football and was invited by Fitzroy, St Kilda and Richmond to go to the Big Smoke. He completed a pre season at St Kilda shortly before joining up. Jim was wounded in action early in the battle of Muar Road, only just getting back to the Battalion at the time of the surrender. His POW experience was spent mainly on the island of Blakanmati. They were worked relentlessly on the docks by the Japanese guards. It took a great toll on him physically at the time, and mentally for many years to come. Upon release like many he was fattened up and sent home. He never really talked about his experiences until about the time of the making of this film. I guess he thought he was getting on in age, and perhaps he had a story worth telling. I think he was right!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usBXu8fMda0

LOVETT, Charles Geoffrey VX39011 B Coy [A Force]

Submission for 2/29th Battalion AIF Association Ben Hackney Testamentary Trust Education Grant 2020

My name is Katie Lovett, I am currently in year 10 at Dromana College going into year 11 as of 2021. I like 1960s/70s/80s classic rock music, vintage fashion, acting. When I complete my schooling, I hope to be a primary school teacher, so that means I will be studying VCE to go to university.

Therefore the Ben Hackney Trust Education Grant not only would be a huge honor for me to be awarded but it would also greatly help me pursue my studies.

Prologue

I’m 16 years of age and experiencing along with others, currently 8 months of restrictions from the Covid19 world pandemic which has included 13 weeks of stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne Victoria. This has meant I haven’t been to school, haven’t visited family or friends. Every time I do go out I have to wear a mask, I’ve missed out on my year 10 formal, my 16th birthday party to name but a few of the inconveniences. This pandemic has given me a small insight into what it must have been like during World War 2 when my Mama and Gramps would have been wondering every minute of every day for four and half years if there was going to be a future for them; very hard at my age, to contemplate the stress they must have endured then, some 75 years ago, as we live in this privileged time now, even with a little Covid lockdown inconvenience?

In thinking about what I would write it has always been our family’s pride in how my great grandmother and great grandfather loved each other so deeply. My essay sets out to acknowledge not only the amazing contribution of my Great Grandfather Captain Charles Lovett but also that of my Great Grandmother Isabella May Lovett (nee Blackburn) during and after the war, a story of commitment and love.

Although quite young I have seen with my involvement with the 2/29TH Battalion Association and in researching Mama’s and Gramp’s story that the women of the Association form an integral component of why this Association has continued to be relevant and above all an embodiment of the 2/29ers values of mateship and importance of family.

SC P125 In 1940 the AIF Women’s Association had been formed to support the families of overseas servicemen. By October of that year the AIFWA was assisting the wives, mothers and sisters of more than 6000 POW’s captured in North Africa and the Middle East. AIFWA membership and welfare work expanded rapidly after the fall of Singapore, and there was soon an 8th Division AIF (Victorian Units) Soldiers Amenities Fund Auxiliary working to raise funds for POW’s in the Pacific. Each Battalion had its own Auxiliary and the 2/29th Battalion Welfare Auxiliary held events to raise money and donated to the Red Cross, Comfort Funds and held Christmas parties for Battalion children. Perhaps more importantly they kept the memory of their men alive, honouring the dead at the Shrine on ANZAC Day and placing In Memoriam notices on the Battle of Muar.

Being the strong, proud and determined women they were, they even demonstrated their love for their men by “objecting strongly to press calling the 8th Division the ‘Lost Division’ and its battalions ‘Lost Battalions.’”

I believe the 2/29th Battalion Association’s women’s love and determination lives on just as strongly today, embodied in those such as Beris and Janella Christie, Joy Derham, Dianne Cowling, Lorraine Crawford, Marg Hogan, Marion Stiles, Sue Lack, Katie Parnell and especially my grandma nanny Nola (deceased) to name but a few, who continue to honour the memory of the 2/29ers.

For ease in reading I have generally referred to my great grand mother Isobel May Lovett as May, the name she was known by and my great grandfather Captain Charles Geoffrey Lovett as Charles.

“I Go to Return”

(A story of Love, Honour, Sacrifice and Service)

In their words, Mama and Gramps’ Story from 1933-1946

When my mama (May) and gramps (Charles) were my age, 16, it was 1933. I’m just trying to imagine what life was like for them then as 16 year olds in Camperdown, country Victoria. The thing I do know it was vastly different to the Australia I live in today.

CGLM Charles was born in 1917 during WWI (1914-1918) and was 12 and a half years old during the Great Depression of 1929-31 so he obviously grew up knowing the hardships of life and that war was part of life. He also commenced work at 12 years of age which is inconceivable to me as I live in this privileged time in Australia’s history.

In 1934, Charles joined the C.M.F. (Citizen Military Forces) formed from Geelong and was called the 23rd/21st City of Geelong Regiment (Battalion). Companies were formed at Colac, Camperdown, Toorang and Warrnanbool. He was 16 at the time! What made him join the military at that young age? I can only assume that maybe he joined for adventure, it seems outrageous to me, as I want to live my life first. I would maybe think about something like that when I was 21 or so. Maybe he joined because he was in search of new memories, I would have loved to have talked to him about this? Or was it because of his understanding of the social thinking at that time that there would be more conflict in the world? Is it possible that he saw this as a way to advance his life from working on a milk farm as a labourer? He maybe wanted to learn new skills such as combat, survival, discipline, reliance on teamwork, learning how to operate guns, wearing a uniform? As I discovered he travelled to camps all around Victoria for training and he said he had a great time.

Engagement Photo of May and Charles 1938

In 1935 at seventeen years of age, Charles met May Blackburn at a dance in Derrinalum. Charles had an old dodge car and he used to drive the ‘Cuckoo’ Orchestra around the various places at night for the dances. May and Charles love story had commenced.

Between 1935-38, the C.M.F went to camp usually during the summer and Charles noted they had a great time at these camps. Perhaps more importantly he recalled that May and he were going great guns, a saying well used in those times meaning their relationship was successful and moving ahead quite quickly. He noted that he had been accepted into the Blackburn family and as he had managed to get together a few pounds he proposed to May and was accepted.

May and Charles were married at Camperdown on September 21st 1940. Charles’s uniform for their wedding was lent to him by his friend LT Ross McLeod from Noorat until his arrived from the government clothing factory which he had to pay for.

With war on the horizon and Charles heavily involved in Army training meant they were apart a fair bit during their early married life.

Photo of May and Charles Wedding Party 21st September 1940

CGLM War was declared in Europe on the 3rd-9th September 1939. Being in the C.M.F Charles was called up for duty immediately in ‘C’ Company and was sent to Queenscliff near Geelong as a platoon Sergeant to guard the lighthouse/search light and foreshore on the Bellarine Peninsula, he was 23 years of age. Following military camp at Mount Martha and officers training camp at Seymour and a Second Lieutenants commission, Charles joined the newly formed 2/29th Battalion A.I.F. doing final training at Bonegilla near Aubury.

NLB P57 /CGLM Prior to the 2/29th Battalion’s embarkation Charles was able somehow to get a message to May that he was on the advance party from Bonegilla that went to the ship at Port Melbourne wharf. On the 30 July 1941 May came down from Camperdown and they were able to meet briefly at the gate on the wharf. They said goodbye through the fence because they, the army personnel, were locked in. May commented that she didn’t know Charles was going to Malaya! She couldn’t quite realize that he was going away at all, it took a while to sink in and yet May never ever felt that he wouldn’t come back. May said we’ve still got the little boomerang which I sent to Charles in Malaya, it just had written on it I go to return. Charles added that little boomerang arrived in an airmail letter the day before the 2/29th Battalion went into Muar, I’ve kept it ever since I go to return.

CGLM The 2/29th Battalion sailed on the 31st July 1941 from Port Melbourne on a Dutch ship, the Mannix Van St Aldergon via Fremantle and Perth arriving in Singapore on 15th August 1941.

Charles recalled that “little did they know that holding May’s hands through the iron gates at the Port Melbourne Wharf would be the last time they would touch each other for 4 ½ years, thank god we didn’t realize it at that moment.”

CGLM November 1941 from Singapore, Charles’s ‘B’ Company was detached to Kluang in Malaya for aerodrome defense and shortly after intelligence had reported a Japanese convoy was headed their way and on the 29th December they were bombed by 21 Japanese planes on Hospital Hill Kluang, which Charles recalls was the first Australians in action in Malaya. About the 10th January 1942 they were moved to Yong Peng and the on the morning of the 17th January 1942 they were moved towards the town of Muar and at dusk reached Bakri and were fired on by the Japanese. ‘B’ Company were allotted the right forward company and ‘C’ Company the left forward company. Thus commencing the famous 2/29th Battle of Muar.

On the morning of the 22nd January 1942, Captain Charles received orders to break off the action and to try and make their own way back to Yong Peng with no maps, all exhausted and hungry, six days since food and he wounded. Somehow he and his small group made it through to Yong Peng and for Charles to hospital on Singapore Island to get his wound fixed. Charles rejoining his Battalion on the 12th February 1942 still with an open wound in his back and now in their final position on Singapore Island on the 13th February. At approximately 7pm on the 15th February 1942 Charles was advised of the surrender and the cease fire, recalling how unbelievably quiet it was noting all their disappointment and that they didn’t know what was in store for them, thus started their life or hell as Japanese Prisoners of War!

NLB P229 May first knew something was wrong when she read in the Camperdown paper one Monday morning early in 1942 that Colonel Robertson and Bill Carr had been killed in action. May knew that Charles would have been in action then, but she went off to her work at Eckt’s Drapery shop in Camperdown. In those days, when there were war casualties, the Church Minister always came round and told the family. Later that day May saw Reverend Ross Williams walking in the front of the shop she thought ‘Ah, no!’ May said her ‘heart went to the bottom of her boots.’ The Minister called out to May “it’s alright, he’s only wounded!’ and then he apologized that he’d come down to tell her, he said he could tell by the look and May’s face that she expected the worst.” Shortly afterwards a telegram from the Ministry of the Army informed May that Charles was missing believed prisoner of war.

Following that telegram May heard nothing for three years until the Red Cross advised that a Captain Lovett had been mentioned in a letter from another prisoner of war. There was nothing further.

NLB P231 May concluded ‘in the circumstances, the only thing to do was to hope for the best, knitting five jumpers for Charles while he was away’ and against the advice of those who suggested that her activity was futile. Families made every possible effort to communicate with their sons and husbands. May and others in her position got word, she thinks from the Red Cross, that they could write 25 words a month. Charles didn’t get many (any) of the many cards May sent. Charles’ mother and May used to sit and try and write something about her family and his family so he’d know everyone was well. May’s father and grandfather died while Charles was away, but they never mentioned that, Charles found out when he got back.

Wives, fiancées and parents were making their own contributions to the war effort. May served as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) at the local hospital in Camperdown. Her daily shifts were from six to ten o’clock. The VAD association also organized raffles and stalls as fund raisers. Many of the women also knitted and sent to the men socks and balaclavas, most of which never arrived at their intended destinations. May also ‘plane-spotted’ every Wednesday night, a job that required training in plane identification and wind directions. She later received an Australian Government decoration for her war service work.

CGLM After a short POW internment in Selerang/Singapore, Gramps left Singapore harbor in ‘A’ Force bound for the Burma line. Following an arduous trip in the galley of the ship they reached Victoria Point in Burma (Myanmar) and the start of their terrible experiences as Japanese Prisoners of War working on the Death Railway commencing at Tavoy (where Charles helped organize the 1942 Tavoy Exceptional Melbourne Cup), Ye, Thanbysyat and his many assignments to the 14, 50, 53, 75 and 105 kilometer POW camps.

CGLM P13 Xmas Day 1943 the emperor in his generous heart gave Charles’s camp two pigs which they turned into a feast, a very rare occurrence. They had not received any mail up to now but did receive one Red Cross parcel divided between six. It was from America and Charles noted it was very good and amongst its content was a tin of condensed milk which they donated to the sick men in their camp hospital.

NLB P234 Some families did not receive telegrams, but learned of their loved ones survival from lists in newspapers and even news that might even be shouted over a fence by a neighbour. However the news was conveyed, the realization that the loved one was safe was a moment for celebration. In many cases it was an opportunity for soldiers’ friends and extended family to share in the excitement. Others like May Lovett waited and waited she recalled ‘there were prisoners of war from Camperdown but she hadn’t got any word at all regarding Charles. In the small country town of Camperdown everybody knew everybody and even May’s mother said “Ah, you’ve got to realize he won’t be coming home!”

CGLM Charles somehow survived the war battles, being wounded in action, the nightmare of the infamous Burma Death Railway including bashings’, sickness from malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, pellagra, cholera, malnutrition, Berri Berri and tropical pamphosis (scabies) to complete the railway and then be transported in cramped railway boxes to Bangkok on the 29th June 1945 which just happened to be his 27th birthday.

From Bangkok, they were marched to Nakon Naoke about 100 kilometers out of Bangkok where on the 17th August 1945 they were advised the war had ended.

Picture of Captain Charles Lovett in Thailand September 1945 before he departed back to Australia.

Captain Charles immediately volunteered with other officers to take charge of the camp of about 500 ORs (ordinary ranks) until he was eventually flown in early October 1945 from Bangkok to Singapore on DC3 Douglas and then shipped back to Australia on the Circassia ship arriving back in Melbourne on the 27th October 1945 and discharged from the army on the 12th December 1945 having spent 38 days in the service in Australia and 1,559 days (nearly 4 and a half years) service outside Australia.

May got word six weeks after everybody else had got home to say that he was safe and well. Captain Charles Lovett was responsible for compiling the list of names to come home and ‘he forgot to put his own name on it!’

In that October 1945 May remembers her feelings that ‘It was unbelievable, she couldn’t describe how she felt’, she brought out the champagne. Prior to May getting word that her Charles had survived the war, the licensed grocery in Camperdown had brought a bottle of champagne up to her, everybody knew Charles was missing and he said ‘This is to be opened when Charles comes back.’ So May her grandmother and mother, in those days the older people didn’t drink much, all opened the champagne and it had gone vinegary and May’s Gran said ‘well, if that’s champagne, I don’t think much of it!’

Stuart Gray and Charles came home on the Circassia, a D-Day landing ship. Charles recalls it was a rough old ship but it felt like luxury to them after their POW life. Charles felt they were only ‘odd bods’ (old Australian term used back then to describe a person who is strange or unusual) when they came home as they didn’t come back with the rest of the 2/29th Battalion because their war had ended up in Siam’ (Thailand).

NLB P241 The main welcome home for 2/29ers and others was 11 October 1945 at Spencer Street Station. For many the day they arrived home bought confusion and a sense of anticlimax. Charles speaks of those who had been in Burma (Myanmar) and then Thailand. They weren’t in that Spencer Street group and as they only arrived on the 27th October were never officially welcomed home! Indeed Charles remembers his arrival as ‘very traumatic. Colonel Lloyd’s and Charles’s gear went missing from the wharf in Melbourne, so they spent all day chasing it. Charles had souvenirs with his gear which included a Japanese (Officers) sword, still a treasured item retained respectfully in the Lovett family.

On the 27th October 1945 at 11am Charles’s ship docked at Port Melbourne and then they walked to Royal Park to meet their families. May and Charles walked past each other without recognizing one another.

Charles was only seven stone three (45.8kg) on his return and felt he was in reasonable health considering. May on the other hand remembers that ‘Charles looked dreadful, you wouldn’t have recognized him, he was skinny, had very dark rings under his eyes and his hair had been cut very short. May had only ever seen Charles with thick wavy hair and now it was almost shaved.

After four and half years apart, given the circumstance, it was probably only natural for them not to recognize each other, ‘strangers for a time’, however that they soon sorted it out.

Captain Charles Lovett (‘B’ Company ‘A’ Force) (VX39011) Service Record

May’s War Service Medal

Isabella May Lovett was awarded the Civilian Service Medal 1939-1945 established on 28th October 1994 by letters Patent to recognize the service of eligible civilians in Australia during WWII who served in arduous circumstances in support of the war effort as part of organizations with military-like arrangements and conditions of service such as the Australian Women’s Land Army (AWLA), VAD Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), the Civil Constructional Corps (CCC) and the Red Cross Emergency Service Companies.

NLB P243 Charles on their return to Camperdown found that his parents and his brother had left farming, something he had expected to resume after his war service.

Photo of May and Charles with their friends Marg and Les Atyeo at the Melbourne Cup 6th November 1945.

NLB P245/CGLM Some ex POW’s eased themselves back into work after their service and ordeal. Others threw themselves into work. In February 1946, Charles and May visited Charles brother in Maryborough in Central Victoria and they jointly started Maryborough Dairies Pty Ltd.

Charles got straight back into it, straight away. He and May decided that they wanted to try to forget about the whole thing, the war, and they agreed for them with the benefit of hind side, it was the best thing they ever did.

NLB P249 Charles having joined his brother as a partner in Maryborough Dairies, with May at his side all the way, through hard work, acquisition and business acumen their business flourished. May helped a lot in the dairy washing bottles and filling them with milk on hand machines whilst Charles did deliveries from 2am to household customers finishing about 9am, then he would start deliveries to shops. Life for both of them was ‘damn busy’. Eventually Charles and May purchased his brothers interest and they ran the Business successfully until retirement in 1996, 50 years on.

Throughout May and Charles’s lives they continued to contribute to the local community, two highly respected people in their community.

Charles expressed in his memoir the admiration and love he had for May noting that she has been a great citizen serving on numerous committees such as T.L. Stone Kindergarten, State school 404, Maryborough Gold & Bowls Club, Rotary Inner Wheel, Legacy and involved in Red Cross and the Maryborough hospital.

Charles further noted in his Memoir this love and his ‘great thanks and admiration to May his wife for her wonderful love and care of him, the great life she gave him and their children. To wait for him for 4 ½ years to come home from war was to him proof of their love. Then to have three wonderful children speaks for itself of the great times they’ve had together, believing it was due to May’s wonderful motherly instinct and care of family.

May and Charles are survived by three children, five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Photo at right of Captain Charles Lovett’s boomerang and dog tags, the Boomerang that May sent to Charles received just before the Battle of Muar in 1942, surviving four and half years of war and POW, indeed “I go to return.” NLB P228

Interviews

To understand May and Charles’ story more fully, I spoke with their children my Auntie Dianne, Uncle Geoffrey and my Grandfather Ron who made the following comments on their Mum and Dad’s special relationship no doubt strengthen through adversity.

Dianne’s most vivid memory is when May’s Nana died, Isobel, my great great Grandmother. Auntie Di’s mum, May, rushed to Camperdown when her mum was admitted to hospital, she died overnight. Di and her dad, Charles, drove down the next day. When they arrived at Nanas house her mum rushed out and clung to her dad for what seemed an eternity, no one else existed. Di noted that Thursday mornings were special to her Mum and Dad as it was the only time her Dad had off for the whole week and they liked to spend it quietly in each other’s company.

They clearly not only loved each other but also life, I think they had lost time to catch up on! Di recalled how every year they went to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, rain hail or shine they attended all the special race days. They did this for 40 years. They always stayed at the Victoria Hotel in Little Collins Street. This hotel is still there. Di’s mum and dad shared many things, golf, Rotary, Legacy, a love of horse racing. Her dad owned thoroughbred horses and was the President of the Maryborough Racing Club. Di also remembers how in their 50’s her mum and dad travelled overseas extensively with their favourite destination being the British Isles, and with her Mum having an encyclopaedic knowledge of the British monarchy they had great joy in visiting all the castles, villages, battlefields in Scotland, Britain, Ireland and Wales.

However Auntie Di’s most vivid and lasting memory is the love her mum and dad constantly showed for her, Geoffrey and Ron, it was part of their everyday life. Di explained how her mum and dad, May and Charles, were never shy to show affection for each other in front of us children which left us with a lasting positive comforting memory.

Geoffrey’s single abiding memory of his mum and dad is that his dad never left the house without kissing his mum goodbye, and never returned without kissing her. They always seemed happiest in each other’s company, although they had a wide circle of friends. Uncle Geoff explained how whenever they were out in public his mum always had her arm through his dads, which Geoff noted, is what couples did in the 40s 50s and 60s. People didn’t really hold hands.

Geoff noted that his dad worked incredibly hard for many years whilst he was getting the dairy business established, 7 days a week, often starting at 2.00am, no holidays for 14 years after returning from the war. Geoff was very clear how they were both on the journey together with his mum always supporting dad, often pitching in to help. Things such as washing milk bottles by hand, making butter and doing the accounts. Finally Geoff said that us three children were raised in a home filled with love and they couldn’t have wished for better role models to shape their lives.

Ron, my grandfather’s, two most vivid memories of his mum and dad were when Charles came in from work every day after delivering milk from 3am in the morning, greeting his mum May in the kitchen with a big hug and kiss and loving embrace, their love for each other was obvious and gave us children a profound meaning of love. Never did he hear a harsh word or quarrel between them in all his life.

Pop Ron also recalls as a young child waking up early some mornings and hearing screaming outside. Going into his mum’s bedroom she consoled him with the understanding that it was his dad, in the horse paddocks in the abandoned gold digging holes that were part of the dairy house property, having a malaria reoccurrence and not to worry about it as they were becoming less frequent for your dad. Pop Ron explained that these episodes as with Dads’ war experience were never discussed and believed that it was not only a Malaria reoccurrence he was dealing with but maybe also the terrors of what he had experienced in the war and as a POW?

My Family and Battalion Involvement

Great Grandfather Charles passed away when I was 8 months old and I was 4 years and 3 months old when my Great Grandmother May passed away. Sadly I wasn’t able to get to know them really well, but through family story telling I think I know that they were very special people who certainly touched many lives with their positivity towards life.

I was born on the 13th April 2004 and attended my first luncheon on the 24th April (11 days old) that year and ever one since. When we were old enough, my sister Missy and I have been selling the Battalion merchandise at the Reunion lunches. Our family also attends the Battle of Muar commemoration service at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and other 2/29th association functions. In 2012 I also commenced marching in the Melbourne Anzac Day March behind the Battalion Banner. Except off course this year 2020 with them all cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic lockdown in Victoria.

Photo of Charles, May, Dad, Mum and I at 1 month old in 2004.

My Mum and Dad are very committed to the battalion, my Dad was honored to be elected to the association committee starting in 2013 as Assistant Secretary, 2014 as Honorary Secretary and from 2015 to current as President.

I am forever thankful that I have a heritage that includes my Gramps who served his nation with distinction and sacrifice and Mama who served our great Country Australia as well with distinction.

Mama and Gramps example of survival, resilience, honour, mateship, service and love of family and quiet disposition gives me strength and inspiration to achieve my goals in life.

“I go to return” – the start of a next chapter

Katie Lovett, 12/11/2020

Acknowledgements

My mum Sharon and dad Simon Lovett for their guidance and support of me in all my endeavours and how proud I am of them for their commitment and service to the 2/29th Battalion Association.

I am proud to be part of the 2/29th Battalion Family and for the love and inspiration all the amazing women in the Association have shown to me during my 16 years involvement, so far, with the 2/29th Association.

To my grandfather Poppy Ron Lovett who has guided me through his vast library of Lovett and 2/29th Battalion books, memorability, records and Great Grandad Charles’s memoir to create this essay.

Bibliography:

Published Sources:

(NLB) No Lost Battalion- Edited by John Lack with Peter Hosford 2005

(BH) A History of the 2/29th Battalion- 8th Australian Division AIF- Edited by R.W. Christie, secretary of the Unit Association and Mr. Robert Christie 1983/85/91/2003

(SC) Surviving Captivity Surviving by RW Christie/Edited by John Lack 2010

Unpublished Sources:

(CGLM) Memoir The Life and Times of Charles Geoffrey Lovett 29/6/1917 – 23/12/2004 written by C.G.Lovett - Unpublished

Interviews:

Dianne Lovett (Daughter of May and Captain Charles Lovett) Geoffrey Lovett (Son of May and Captain Charles Lovett) Ron Lovett (Son of May and Captain Charles Lovett

Submission by Katie Lovett

For the 2/29th Battalion AIF Association Ben Hackney Testamentary Trust Education Grant 2020

12 November 2020

STANTON Hilton Alfred QX23428 B Coy [Sum]

Tributes

Hilton Alfred STANTON QX23428 (Q7810) 1923 - 2017 - Nulli secundus

STANTON, Hilton Alfred Of Holy Spirit, Carseldine, passed away peacefully on 15th August, 2017, aged 94 years.

Hilton (known as Hilly to friends and family) was a generous, compassionate and charitable man, known for his high regard for honesty and truth in reporting. Hilton’s mission was to leave a faithful report of the experiences of the 200 Australians in Sumatra, especially on the Atjeh Road and the Forgotten Railway - the Pakenbaroe/ Moeara Railway.

Originally in the 11th Light Horse Regiment in Queensland, Hilton enlisted in the AIF in August, 1941, and was posted to Singapore just prior to its fall – one of the many men needed to replace those lost in the Battle of Muar. He joined B Company, of 11 Platoon, led by Lt Arthur Tranter.

During the Battle for Singapore, B Company was charged with defending the Kranji River area, including a large ammunition dump. After being overrun by Japanese, the 12 remaining men of B Company tried to rejoin their own lines, but were cut off at every attempt, losing one more man in the process. They eventually commandeered a small, leaky rowing boat, and were near Pulau Belakang Mati (now Sentosa) when Singapore fell. By now the exhausted and hungry men had found a tiny tongkang and headed towards Sumatra, across the heavily mined Malacca Strait, until they reached the Kampar River, which they mistook for the Indragiri River - part of the designated escape route to India.

Here they met up with a Dutch party who issued them with clothing and ammunition. With the Dutch, they faced an arduous journey across swamp and jungle to Aemolock (Armoluk) on the Indragiri River. Then, aided by a Swiss rubber planter and his wife, they were trucked to Sawaloek (Sawaluk) and from thence to Padang, but too late for evacuation.

On March 19, 1942, his nineteenth birthday, Hilton and his mates were captured. Padang became the first of several POW camps in Sumatra. The Australian prisoners were transported in cramped and stifling railway box cars, then by truck, to Gloegoer Camp near Medan. Hilton was to endure three and a half years as a prisoner. Conditions at Gloegoer were reasonable at first. The first commandant, Col. Banno, saw that the prisoners were treated humanely, but when he was replaced by “The Mad Major” conditions worsened and by now there were Korean guards.

On March 8, 1944, 500 prisoners, Dutch, British and 50 Australians, including Hilton, were sent to Atjeh to build a road, travelling the first 308 km by truck, then a march of 120 km. The two most senior Australian men were the only Australian officer, Lt Tranter, and Cpl. Len Mackay. Living conditions were extremely primitive, the tools basic - chunkles, axes and baskets - and the cruel treatment by the Korean guards despicable. The men, constantly wet, hungry and cold at night, suffering from lice, skin diseases, malaria and dysentery, endured constant beatings by the Korean guards. Many were later indicted as War Criminals.

Despite the pleas of Lieut Miura, the Japanese commandant, for transport, on November 3, 1944, the working party, by now starving and suffering from malaria, dysentery, beri beri, tropical ulcers, lack of clothing and footwear, began the 120 km long march to Koetatyane (Katayana). Hilton managed to steal some salt which he mixed with cooked rice. This act almost certainly saved many lives. From there they were trucked to Sungei Sengol, near Medan.

At this time, Hilton was very ill with malaria, delirium and hallucinations, but helped by his mate, Slim Nelson. Slim believed that he wouldn’t have survived had Hilton not shared his food! True friends.

A nightmarish journey to Moeara followed - a stifling train, lice, mites and filth, more mosquitoes. This began the worst period of internment - constructing a railway which the Dutch had decreed years earlier as impractical - through jungles and swamps.

From now on treatment was even worse with Korean guards from Atjeh, but also engineers and guards from the Burma/Siam Railway - well skilled in cruelty towards P.O.Ws and Romushas (forced Asian labourers). There were 14 camps in all. At the end of the war, Hilton and his friends were at Logas, Camp 9, by this time near death and scrounging for anything edible. Lt Tranter had been removed to Camp 2 - the Death Camp - in a bid to deprive the men of leadership, as the Japanese misunderstood the resilience and individualism of the Australian soldier.

The railway was completed on August 15,1945, the day Victory in the Pacific was declared. However, the 2,850 men at Logas, of whom 850 were seriously ill, knew little about that, although the next day, the Japanese behaviour changed.

As the outside world knew nothing of their existence on August 15, there were no immediate food drops and men continued to die.

It wasn’t until August 24 when South African Major G. F. Jacobs announced it at Camp 2, that the prisoners knew the war was over. Medical supplies, clothing and food had increased.

The Railway, never to be used and destined to sink back into the jungle, had cost about 82,500 lives, of which 80,000 were Romushas. Eventually Hilton was transported to Singapore to recover and finally, home to his family.

He met Thelma (dec’d). They married on September 28, 1946, and had two sons – John (dec’d) and Robert – and were blessed with loving daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Hilton worked as State Manager for Comsteel, supported World Vision, Royal Flying Doctors, Vision Australia, the Cancer Council, the United Church’s many missions and the Bible Society. Hilton was the last remaining Sumatran POW in Queensland.

Brenda M. Tranter

BOEHM, John Wilfred VX47040 B Coy [F Force]

Tribute to Private John Boehm, 1921-2014 2/29th Battalion

Len Boehm

Dad rarely talked about what he went through during the war when we were growing up. All we heard was the light hearted version. We knew about the Japanese Guard who ate a box of laxettes and then disappeared for a week. He told us about a guard who insisted that they would bomb the capital of Australia i.e Canada. We laughed with him as he recalled the Japanese soldier who advised in broken English “you think I know f-nothing when really I know f-all!”. He talked about getting seasick on the way to and from Malaya and swore he would never get on another boat as long as he lived. He even taught us kids to count to 20 in prisoner of war Japanese. Of course we knew something about the war, but the full horror of what happened at Muar and on the Burma railway never came up in detail.  Anzac day was a day for dad to sometimes march and see old mates it wasn’t a day for the family to remember. I suspect he didn’t want to burden us with the past.

It wasn’t until many years later when I had children of my own that our connection with the war and dad changed. I was listening to an ABC Radio show called “Australians under Nippon” when dad and mum showed up for a visit. The presenter was describing how the Japanese made thousands of Australians stand in the hot tropical sun at Changi for endless hours and described soldiers collapsing. Dad asked me what I was listening to. I told him and for the first time in my life my dad broke down crying.

Ever since then Anzac day has become the most important event in the Boehm calendar with my brother Bill and I, our wives and as many grandchildren, great grandchildren and assorted hangers on as are available gathering at Barwon Heads to watch the local march, to attend the service and have lunch together. Every year no matter how ill dad was he would march, sometimes standing like a leaf in the wind held up on either side by grandchildren who have also served. This year for the first time he had to be pushed by my brother in a wheel chair. He wasn’t happy.

And a number of traditions developed. Dad would tell us stories from the war reliving the battle of Muar.  We knew the story of the gunners and the tanks by heart. Dad’s tattered old pay book that also survived the war would also come out to be carefully passed around like some sort sacred object. He would read the list of his mates in his section and we would all sing his version of an old world war one song he learnt in basic training.  We know it as “the lousy lance corporal”.

This song has become an institution in our family. My dad used to sing it to me when I was having a bath as a little kid. I remembered the tune and would sing it to my children and now they sing it to theirs. I remember the shock dad got when he first bathed my girls and they broke into chorus.  He just couldn’t work out how they knew a song he sang as a young soldier.

Another tradition would be the attendance of Uncle Leo who served with dad in Malaya and who was his best mate.  Leo died a few years ago and I don’t think there was anyone to tell his story, so I will tell it here. Leo was the last wounded man out alive from the battle of Muar and got out of Singapore before the surrender allegedly on the last hospital ship.  He escaped with one arm permanently disabled. Some might say he was lucky, but he always suffered survivors guilt, outraged by what the Japanese did to his mates but unable to share in their experience. He never followed up the battalion and rarely marched and mainly kept in contact with my dad.  About 10 years ago dad finally talked him into attending a battalion lunch and what followed ranks as one of the most moving scenes of my life. This small, frail old man went up to another frail elderly man, shook his hand and said with much understatement “Doc, you probably don’t remember me, but you saved my life over 60 years ago and I never got the chance to thank you”.

And although Uncle Leo struggled for many years to forgive the Japanese, my dad would never blame them. “Bad things happen in war” he would say, or “they treated their own as badly”. “You don’t blame a people for the sins of their leaders”. Dad didn’t hate.

Like any son of the 2/29th I have since read up on the atrocities the Japanese committed during the war. I’ve read the battalion books and talked things over more and more with my dad. My brother recently asked if I wanted to see a new movie on the Burma rail. I declined telling him I knew enough. But I was wrong. My dad is a gentle reasonable man and even the madness of war was always explained in an understated way.

Dad died after a short illness after seeing his whole family over the last weeks including his 105 year old sister. Most days were pain free and full of laughter, stories and playing of his squeezebox. But on just one day he struggled and he gripped my hand and said “Len I’m not afraid of death but I can’t go through it again. I can’t go through what I went through during the war”. Only in that brief moment as we cried together did I really understand the horror these men went through in the service of their country.

The war does not define my father. He is defined by his love of my mother, by tales of growing up on a farm at Brim, by his roof tiling, by fishing (always from the shore), by dances with mum, by grandchildren, and by the playing of his squeezebox. The miracle was that this good natured young man who went to war in 1940 returned to us. Older with his soul scarred but with his kindness and gentle nature intact.

The 2/29th Battalion Association is the embodiment of the promise that we will always remember. And so I leave you with a promise from my family that we will continue to gather each Anzac day at Barwon Heads to honour their memory and hopefully, for generations to come our decedents will teach their children the song of that young soldier and will pass on the stories of the brave men of the 2/29th.

Lest we forget

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Report on John Wilfred Boehm Memoir

By Dianne Cowling

John Boehm, VX47040, was a serving member of the 2/29th and has written his memoirs which also include his early years. John’s great grandparents emigrated from Prussia in 1838 which makes John from a ‘Pioneer’ family. Like many Australian’s of this early time John grew up on a farm in rural Natimuk in Victoria. Also, like many families growing up in the 1930’s, life was hard work without many of the little luxuries we are so used to today. Walking was a way of life as cars were a luxury most could not afford. Hard labour was needed to put food on the table and make ends meet so young men grew up strong of body and able to adapt and do many jobs as it was ‘all hands to the plough’ on a farm. This would stand many in good stead in the hard years as a POW under the Japanese.

When war was declared in September 1939 eager patriotic young Australian men joined up in support of England and Europe being the mother land for many Australians. John’s older brother, Roy, was the first to do so in February 1940 and this encouraged John and his younger brothers to want to do so as well. Three Pound 50 pence per week plus uniform, all clothing and meals was a lot of money then and with the excitement of ‘proving’ themselves as men was too tempting to ignore. As the 2/29th was just being formed in Victoria John was with the first recruits at Caulfield Racecourse where all the enlisted were being gathered from all over Victoria. Like the first of the Battalion John enlisted in July 1940 and he gives some details of his time in training including his time in the Bonegilla Camp near Albury and later Bathurst in NSW before the Battalion embarked for fighting overseas. Training in Australia was in ‘open warfare’ so when the troops landed in Singapore Brig Gen Gordon Bennett knew his troops needed to be retrained in jungle warfare and John gives a detailed account of the time from landing on Singapore Island until finally the enemy is engaged by the 2/29th at the Battle of Muar 17th January 1942. John remembers the fighting but the nightmare trip from Muar back to Singapore “escapes my memory” says John. He has included excerpts from ‘The History of the 2/29th’ and “Percival & the Tragedy of Singapore” by Sir John Smyth VC. John also points to other books that give a lot more detail of this battle as well personal experiences of other men as POW’s under the Japanese. He mentions “Prisoners of the War- Australian under Nippon” by Hank Nelson & 'A Doctors Diary' by Dr Roy Markham Mills.

Once back on Singapore Island John resumes his recollections of the fighting and the ‘surrender’ which left a very bad taste in the mouths of the troops, many of whom wanted to go on fighting rather than give up, but they were trained to follow orders and follow them they did. John talks about his time at Selarang Barracks in Changi Provence before he was finally sent out to work on Thai Burma Railway with many of the 2/29th in F Force on ANZAC day 1943. Pond’s Party F Force had Dr Roy Markham Mills as their ‘force’ doctor and all who survived give credit to this amazing man for what he did for them all. Johns praise for Dr Mills could not be high enough and he goes on to say that “survival was 99% luck”. He remembers the illnesses and diseases that they all suffered, many of his friends never survived but John did and remembers how hard it was adjusting to the diet back home after the depravation of his time as a POW. The Post War period for those who survived saw many of the men suffer reoccurring bouts of the diseases suffered as a POW. John was a true Aussie Battler and never gave up, he married and had two children and continued to work at anything that would put food on the table and pay the bills. Never giving up stood John in good stead and in 1979 after living a good life John and his wife retired to Barwon Heads. John remained involved with the RSL, old time dancing & snooker and his growing family including his grandchildren. The memoirs finish in 1997 with John & his wife happily enjoying their beach change and life in general.

ROSE Frederick Francis VX46625 B Coy [A Force]

David Rose sent us a photo of his late father and some interesting information.

Thanks for sharing David.

I would like to share this picture of my late father Pte F. F. Rose {Mick} VX 46625. 2/29th Battalion

He was Born in Hamilton 15/9/17 passed away 15/3/91 at ANZAC Brighton.

His mother died in 1919 Spanish Flu, he left school aged 12 worked on farms in Western District and he was also a tent boxer for a while.

On joining up he ended up in the 2/29 in .B Company taken prisoner at Singapore spent time on railway on A Force then to Japan were he worked in a coal mine.

He was in FUKUOKA#22 Honami.

Lest We Forget

KNEALE Victor James VX36132 B Coy [A Force]

Pte Victor James KNEALE, VX36132

B Company A Force

Pte KNEALE was born in Richmond in 1901

He was a married man

He enlisted at age 39.

Died of Illness (Berri Berri) whilst Prisoner of War 31.8.1943

Buried Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery Myanmar

"We Will Remember Them"

MORRIS Norman Stanley VX59433 B Coy [B Force]

RUSSELL Morris (son) is at the top of music charts with a record that partly tells the story of his father, who escaped infamous WWII death marches.

RUSSELL Morris has returned to the top of the charts with two records which tell quintessential Australian stories to the soundtrack of the blues.

Sandakan, from his new record Van Diemen’s Land, tells the deeply personal story of his father Private Norman Morris, Pte Bruce McWilliams, Pte Allan Minty, Lance Corporal Fred New and Corporal William Fairy of the 2/29 Battalion who escaped the infamous death marches from the prisoner of war camp during World War II.

They survived for almost six months on the run in the jungles of Borneo, moving only late at night and eating “things that creep and crawl”, according to Morris’s song.

The five men were recaptured just as they secured a boat and supplies from a local member of the underground with a promissory note for 200 pounds.

The Australian government would honour that debt to Tek Sing at the end of the war.

Morris, who was two when his father died after the war, said his daughter Jaime and son Luke has encouraged him to write about Norm’s story.

“I wasn’t going to write about Normie because I find it hard to write personal songs,” Morris said.

“But I approached it like I do my other songs, writing down all the facts, their names and the events and I called it Sandakan because I wanted people to then be inspired to Google that and find out more about the camp and death matches which killed more than 2000 prisoners of war.”

One of the delightful details in the blues songs is the names the men signed on the promissory note which included Robert Menzies, Winston Churchill, Mae West and Shirley Temple.

“They were given the boat and supplies by Tek Sing who accepted the note in good faith, but they were recaptured,” Morris explained.

“The government honoured that note at the end of the war because of the assistance he gave to the soldiers.”

Morris said the No. 4 debut of Van Diemen’s Land after the top 10 success of Sharkmouth, last year’s blues record of the year, proved Australians wanted to hear their stories in song.

“It’s great people listen to these songs and then want to learn more about our rich tapestry,” he said.

“It was a shameful stigma to say you were from convict blood 100 years ago and now it is a badge of honour because we are more confident as a nation now.”

PEARSALL Thomas Gordon TX6060 B Coy [F Force]

ACT police recover Canberra man's stolen WWII memorabilia

From the Canberra Times – November 14, 2014

Prized mementos: War medals and a handwritten diary which belonged to Scott Pearsall's grandfather were among the items stolen.

Among Scott Pearsall's most treasured possessions were a handwritten diary and several war medals that told the story of his grandfather's journey as a prisoner of war in World War II.

That's why Mr Pearsall, a University of Canberra academic, was devastated to discover thieves had stolen the prized memorabilia when they burgled his Pearce home in May this year.

The haul included one of two prisoner-of-war diaries and medals that belonged to his grandfather Thomas Pearsall, who served in the military between 1940 and 1945.

Delighted: Scott Pearsall and wife Paul with precious war memorabilia recovered from thieves.

During that time, Mr Pearsall became a prisoner of war at Singapore's notorious Changi jail and later worked under brutal conditions on the Thai-Burma Railway.

Police found the memorabilia when they seized thousands of dollars worth of stolen items from seven properties across the ACT earlier this year.

Mr Pearsall and his wife Paula collected them from City Police Station in Civic on Friday.

He plans to transcribe the diaries so they can be published before he donates them and the medals to the Australian War Memorial.

"We were devastated when my grandfather's diary and medals were stolen as these were irreplaceable," Mr Pearsall said.

"I'm delighted that the diary and the medals, so dear to our family, have been recovered."

ACT Policing Crime Targeting Team detective senior constable Brett Katz worked on the case since May and said discovering the memorabilia and returning it to the Pearsall family was a good outcome following an "involved and protracted investigation".

"It gives you great satisfaction as a police officer to recover items which mean so much to people and ensure they make their way back to the rightful owners," he said