TUESDAY July 11 was a very special day on King Island, starting with the 11 am commemoration service at the cemetery to honour seven members of the Air Force who died during World War Two.
This was followed by a community presentation in the Town Hall at 7.30pm on the island’s World War Two Comforts Fund.
The many who attended were welcomed by a fascinating display at the rear of the hall featuring letters from King Island soldiers and nurses, as well as many documents and items from the fund.
After welcoming the many distinguished guests, including Karen Muir and Australian Defence Force Service personnel, RSL Subbranch president Tom Shaw honoured the four women who had worked so hard over many years to ensure the priceless collection of records remained with us. They are Ann Ghazarian, Ann Honess, Sophie Thorn and Trish Clemons.
“As a veteran I know the importance of mail from home and a package, even in these times of emails,” Mr Shaw said.
“But our World War veterans had no phones, and the mail system was the only thing to keep them in touch with their family and community. Letters were shared with friends as were the food parcels and this all helped to keep morale up.
‘To set the scene, this is the situation that many veterans found themselves in during World War Two. Paper was very scarce, all their letters were subject to censorship so they could not say where they were, what they had been doing, they often had to write in poorly lit tents or on guard duty when the sergeant was not looking, and for many spelling was not high on their list of what was really important in life.
“They used terms that have now become politically unacceptable, so please do not be offended by words such as Japs – that is the way it was.”
The presentation featured 38 slides with commentary superbly provided by Ann Ghazarian and Trish Clemons, about the collection and featuring a number of letters including those written by Charlie Burkett and Graham Birch.
Three descendants also read out letters written by their forebears; they were Irene Robins, Phillip Lancaster and Margaret Stansfield.
RSL Tasmania CEO John Hardy read out portion of Jack Marshall’s letter to the Tasmanian Patriotic Fund successfully arguing the case for independence of the island fund.
Karen Muir, daughter of Sylvia Ransley, and Jack and Alice Marshall’s granddaughter, spoke in glowing terms of her relatives. She mentioned that Jack was born in England in 1891 and arrived on King Island around 1909. He served in World War 1 and saw active service in the Middle East and the Western Front, resulting in life-long disabilities.
In 1918 he married Alice Mann in Melbourne and the couple settled on their farm at Pegarah. Here, they raised four children but tragically lost their eldest son John in July 1942 at El Alamein while serving with the Second AIF.
Jack and Alice led the Comforts Fund and inspired the community to donate to it during the Second World War. This was before before any Comforts Fund began in Tasmania.
Karen said: “Jack passed in 1955 and Alice 24 years later in 1979. My grandparents were very community minded people and active in many organisations including Council, RSL, CWA, Red Cross, and the hospital. Jack is believed to be the first Tasmanian veteran to be awarded life membership by the RSL in Tasmania.
His wife became the first president of the RSL ladies’ auxiliary on King Island. She was awarded life membership of the RSL in 1968.
“My mother Sylvia was born in Currie in 1921 and lived on the island all her life, passing in 2018. My grandfather kept all his records, and my mother was able to pass them on to the RSL with the hope that their value would be recognised.
“After having been misplaced for many years, they were finally located much to my mother’s delight. It was thanks to a group of dedicated ladies who helped to preserve the memory of the 130 service personnel who wrote the 500 thank you letters. My mother and grandparents would be very proud and happy to see the final outcome and recognition these documents and work they so deserve.”
Phillip Lancaster reflected that two of his relatives he never met – Buff Cheese and Jack Lancaster – died while serving with the Air Force during World War Two.
“But one did survive, and he was my Uncle Peter Lancaster, who served in the Second AIF. He observed the Japanese surrender and wrote to the Marshall’s; these are some of his words from his September 1945 letter.”
“It is wonderful to think the war is finally over and that before long the boys will be headed for home for keeps. The stories that have come out the last few days about the treatment of the prisoners have made ghastly reading. It is almost impossible to realise human beings could be so cruel and ruthless. It makes us all the more thankful that the Japs didn’t reach Australia.
“About 15,000 Japs were crammed on to the ship, which was only quite small, and as they came off they were a sorry sight. A very sheepish insolent looking crowd and you could see they were absolutely scared to death. Very likely they had seen their own men treating their prisoners so dreadfully and were expecting like treatment. I have no doubt they were very surprised, and not a little ashamed of themselves, when they found they were regarded as human beings.
“Our second meeting was with the General of the Jap Second Army who came to Morotai to surrender his forces totalling about 126,000 men, to General Blamey. The Jap party were marched right passed where our little group was, and we all had a great view of them. The general himself showed no sign of emotion whatsoever …. The whole ceremony was most impressive, and Blamey made a very good and forceful speech. He stressed the importance of carrying out all his orders without hesitation.
“Quite a few prisoners and civilian internees from the Celebes and surrounding islands are on Morotai at the moment. I was in their camp on Sunday and there was a great sight – men, women and children everywhere. The little children were having a wonderful time clambering over trucks and jeeps!”
After a question period, RSL North West director John Findlater presented ‘2023 King Island Comforts Fund’ parcels to Ms Leigh Edwards, Jeff Kildea and Michael Snell (descendants of the 1943 Beaufort Crash victims); and Ann Ghazarian, Trish Clemons and Karen Muir for all their work in saving the fund documentation.
Mr Shaw thanked everyone for attending the very special presentation on what he described as a “national treasure”.
He also acknowledged people involved over many years.
“On behalf of the sub branch I sincerely thank the late Jack and Alice Marshall for their leadership, attention to detail, and not discarding anything. To the commitment of their daughter Sylvia and her daughter Karen, to ensure the collection has survived, when at times it must have felt that there was little interest. I hope this evening we have demonstrated that its future safe keeping and accessibility is assured.
“To our team of ladies, all volunteers, who just got on with the job – Ann, Ann, Sophie, Trish and Yvonne you have our heartfelt thanks. If I have omitted anyone I apologise.
The sub branch will now start the storage and display process in our humidified controlled room, followed by access through a web page.
This will take time, but I give a commitment to the Marshall family, and all who contributed a significant amount of time and dedication, that it will be done. We will also set a process up so people can view the items, but please be patient as there are archival and handling procedures that will need to be established.
“We never forget veterans and their families, and you are now part of our family.”
The audience then enjoyed a superb supper provided by RSL Air Force veterans Chris and Tracey Richards.