My dad would have been 82. He enlisted underage at 16, as many young men of his time did (by changing his name and forging parent's signatures). He saw service mainly in New Guinea as well as the Middle East, Moratai, Borneo etc. Eventually he ended up in Hiroshima from 46 to 47 and became a member of the infamous "Kure Millionaires"
It took him over 50 years to be able to even talk about that part of his life. Those of you with parents that went through WW2 (and the demons that came with it) will know what I'm writing about.
He spent most of his life trying to come to terms with his demons.
About 2 months before he died, dad came over for a barbie with a box full of fairly graphic photo's (and stories to match). Fortunately, we were able to put most of it together, mainly to pass onto the next generation of our family to remember......
Dad had been selected for an interview on ABC's Australian Story in relation to his time in New Guinea and Japan, but had to cancel twice due to illness. We were all pretty excited that somebody actually wanted to record what he had to say, and we looked forward to finding out a bit more about his mysterious past. Sadly, dad succumbed to his illness shortly after.
Thanks dad for doing your bit for Australia. Words can't describe the pride we feel.
Nope...We'll never forget.