Ballarat Hosts WWII Veterans
1 April 2010
HMAS Ballarat (CMDR Kevin Turner) recently opened her gangway to several Australian and US WWII veterans who praised the courage and sacrifice of all past and present sailors.
Ballarat’s ship’s company treated the Navy WWII veterans to a tour of their ship and to a delicious lunch in the wardroom, where they traded salty dits.
Ballarat’s hospitality provided US veteran Harrison Hart with an opportunity to tell his story about how he survived the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, on 7 December 1941, which sank eight US battleships and triggered the war in the Pacific.
Mr Hart and former RAN veteran, Howard Halstead, OAM, who is the president of the RAN Corvette Association, spoke about how the ‘winds of war’ had carried them to the four corners of the globe.
“I was a junior officer stationed on the USS Detroit (CL-8), a light cruiser, which was moored in Pearl Harbour the day the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941,” he said with misty eyes.
“Despite the fury of the attack, Detroit was able to get underway and set up anti-aircraft fire.”
Mr Halstead said he served in HMAS Strahan, a Bathurst class minesweeper, which hit a mine in Hong Kong harbour in 1945.
“The mine was probably payback because earlier we had traded fire with a Japanese shore battery and blown up their toilet block,” he said with a grin.
CMDR Turner said his crew were honoured to host the visit by the Navy veterans, particularly as the ship carries the battle honours of Ballarat (I) which was a Bathurst class minesweeper in WWII.
The visit by the WWII veterans supports the ‘Keep 45 Alive’ international initiative to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Victory Pacific Day (VP Day) on 15 August this year.
The initiative was launched locally by the Minister for Veteran’s Affairs, The Hon. Alan Griffin, MP, COMAUSFLT, RADM Steve Gilmore AM, CSC and the RSL’s Eastern Metropolitan Districts Council, which is working in partnership with the Australian War Memorial and The Sir Roden Cutler Charities.
RADM Gilmore said the ending of World War II on 15 August 1945 (VP Day) was one of the most important days in the 20th Century.
He also praised the heroism of Australian WWII Service personnel, who contributed to Japan’s surrender on 15 August 1945, which ended four years of fighting in the Pacific and hostilities in WWII.
During that period, more than 19 000 Australians lost their lives, 15 000 were wounded and 22 000 were taken prisoner.
“We in uniform today owe a great deal to our veterans of former conflicts,” he said.
“We appreciate that through their valour, our country emerged from the Second World War with a new sense of independence. They inspire us with their example and our nation rightly owes them its deepest and most sincere gratitude.”
Throughout 2010, the Keep 45 Alive initiative will honour its aim to ‘remember their sacrifice, celebrate our freedom’, by hosting and supporting key commemorative activities, gather and record personal memories of men and women who experienced VP Day in 1945 before they are lost forever, and to link and create a bond between current generations of Australians with those of the WWII era.
Navy personnel can submit their relatives’ stories and memories to www.keep45alive.org.au.
