OUR PLAQUES

Members of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. Association who attended the dedication and unveiling of the plaque at Rocky Creek. Left to right: Yvonne Unitt, John Heckenberg, Peter McCulkin, Frank Gaffney and Mary Steenson.

YVONNE UNITT: “It is appropriate the plaque is in this very special place of commemoration.”

It is a great honour to be invited to talk about our 2/33rd Battalion whose commemorative plaque was unveiled and dedicated a few minutes ago. It is appropriate the plaque is in this very special place of commemoration, because the Atherton Tablelands played such a vital role in the battalion’s rebuilding after Kokoda, and its training for other major battles that helped defeat the Japanese in the disease-ridden jungles of Papua, New Guinea and Borneo.

Few Australian infantry battalions during World War II achieved a prouder record than the 2/33 rd, and none suffered a more horrendous loss in a matter of minutes than it did at Port Moresby on September 7, 1943, when a US Army Air Force Liberator bomber, attempting to take off, hit a tree and crashed into a convoy of trucks parked at the end of the runway and carrying our men waiting to be airlifted over the Owen Stanley Ranges for the attack to recapture Lae from the Japanese.

Sixty of our soldiers were killed and 90 injured in what is still the biggest, yet least known, air disaster in Australian history.There were horrifying scenes as two 500lb bombs and more than 2,000 gallons of aviation fuel exploded in a huge fire ball.

Many men running from the inferno with their clothes on fire were blown up by their own ammunition. A veil of secrecy shrouded the disaster until after the war.

The crash occurred just three weeks after the battalion had left Ravenshoe following months of training for the Lae campaign. The disaster was one of the best kept secrets of the war.

The battalion’s proud war history began in England in 1940 when it was formed as a temporary battalion to help defend England against a possible German invasion.

Yvonne Unitt and Mary Steenson who unveiled the plaque and paid tributes to the men of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F.

The 525 men were taken from Australian troops heading for the Middle East. Equipment was in such short supply they used wooden pick handles instead of rifles when training. After the Battle of Britain had been won and the invasion threat eased the battalion became part of the 7th Division and fought the Vichy French in Syria before being ordered home in 1942, to help defend Australia against the Japanese. Within weeks, it was in action on the Kokoda Trail, where it performed magnificently but paid a heavy price.

It started the Kokoda campaign with 625 men. By the time they had helped drive the Japanese back to Gona after 93 days of continuous fighting only eight officers and 128 other ranks were left. They were so exhausted they could hardly stand, but were still fighting.

On Kokoda, 47 were killed, 122 wounded and 267 evacuated with deadly diseases such as scrub typhus and malaria. With so few men left the battalion was withdrawn from battle and sent to Ravenshoe in January, 1943, for much needed rest, recovery and rebuilding

It was seven months before the battalion was ready to return to Port Moresby for the Lae campaign. Then, in the early hours of September 7, 1943, came the unimaginable, the Liberator disaster.

Memories of mates being blown up or burnt to death before their eyes haunted crash survivors for the rest of their lives. Among the survivors were my father, Lance Sergeant Ray Gibson and Private Frank Mawson, the father of our battalion association treasurer, Mary Steenson, who helped unveil our battalion plaque this morning.

The 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. Association wreath laid at the new plaque.

Although Gallipoli and Kokoda stand as eternal epitaphs to the courage of Australian soldiers in war, the surviving men of the 2/33 rd Battalion showed equal courage and steely resolve by going into battle just two days after the crash, despite having lost a quarter of its strength. They knew they still had a job to do. Not one of the survivors asked to be excused from battle.

The 2/33rd went on to help gain gallant victories in Lae, the Ramu Valley and Shaggy Ridge before returning to the Atherton Tablelands, at nearby Kairi, for further intensive training and preparations for its final battle of the war, at Balikpapan and the Milford Highway, where they faced fierce Japanese resistance in the weeks immediately prior to the Japanese surrender.

Our 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion Association proudly dates back to that time. Now one of the few surviving unit associations in Australia, it was formed at Balikpapan on August 10, 1945, four days after the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and five days before the Japanese surrender ended World War II. Three thousand and sixty five men saw active service with Battalion. Another 588 served after hostilities ended.

The battalion lost 107 men killed or mortally wounded in action. 324 were wounded. It is a great honour for the battalion and our association that a plaque recognising its service and sacrifice now has a permanent place in this special memorial park and near the area the area where so many trained for war and the service of their country.

On behalf of our association I would like to thank the Tablelands Regional Council fand the Rocky Creek War Memorial Trust for making this possible. Our thanks also to all of you for being here today, and especially the members of our association who have travelled long distances to be with us.

LEST WE FORGET.

MARY STEENSON: “There could be no better place for the plaque honouring our battalion than here in Rocky Creek Memorial Park .”

It is a great privilege to be here today to take part in the unveiling of this plaque to honour the service and sacrifice of the men of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion A.I.F. who spent many months training on the Atherton Tablelands in preparing for battles that helped defeat the Japanese in the disease-ridden jungles of Papua, New Guinea and Borneo.

The battalion was originally formed in 1940 to help defend England against a possible German invasion, but saw its first action aspart of the 7th Division fighting the Vichy French in Syria before being ordered back to Australia to fight the Japanese.

One hundred and seven of our soldiers paid the supreme sacrifice, killed or mortally wounded in battle, during the five years of World War II. Another 60 were killed or mortally injured in the crash of a US Army Air Force Liberator bomber into a convoy of trucks carrying the men at Port Moresby in September, 1943, the worst air disaster in Australia’s history and one of the best kept secrets of the war.

There could be no better place for the plaque honouring our battalion than here in Rocky Creek Memorial Park where so many men who trained in this area are commemorated. My father, Private Frank Mawson, was one of them and, in fact, spent time recovering from severe burns in the 2/2 General Hospital which was located not far from here.

On behalf of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion Association, I would like to thank the Tablelands Regional Council and the Rocky Creek War Memorial Trust for their greatly appreciated assistance in having the plaque placed here, and for it being dedicated today.

I would also like to thank the members of our association for having travelled long distances to be here today to pay their respect and pay tribute to their descendants who fought so gallantly in the service of their country.

LEST WE FORGET.