Australia's WWII veterans remember the day victory was declared 80 years ago

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

For 100-year-old veteran Leslie "Doc" Sinclair, the memory of the day he heard World War II was over is one of relief, not elation.
Then aged just 20, he and another soldier stayed back at camp in Balikpapan, Borneo, while their comrades went to a concert for the troops.
"I turned to Freddy and said, thank Christ for that, and that was it."
Mr Sinclair is among just seven World War II veterans set to gather in Townsville on Friday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Pacific.
Mr Sinclair will remember his good friend, Jack Galloway, 21, who was shot beside him in Balikpapin, just a month before Japan surrendered.
"I'll never forget it," he said.
"I heard this one crack and I thought, 'Jeez, that was close.'
"I looked, Jack was down.
"I had to keep going.
Almost a million Australians served in World War II, and almost 40,000 died.
On the home front, Townsville had an influx of American and Australian troops in the months after the US entered the war, in 1941.
It is estimated the population tripled from 30,000 to 90,000 in 1942.
Townsville woman Gladys Marnock was 18 when she joined the Women's National Emergency Legion, working as truck and bus driver for the US Army.
Ms Marnock, 100, still remembers the cheeky behaviour of US soldiers.
"This old lady didn't like them being there … she lived over the road [from the camp] and used to say sarcastic things to them," she said.
"They found a recording that said, 'You'd be better off in a home,' and they used to play this recording over and over again."
Ms Marnock said the end of the war came as a relief.
Former fighter pilot Roger North, 103, is the oldest veteran expected to attend VP80 commemorations.
Mr North escorted Blenheim bombers in India and Burma and said despite the high casualty rate, pilots were always keen to take to the skies.
"One day, just as we were approaching the Japanese airfield, two of them collided and they just burst into flames," he said.
"It was a sad sight … I saw one bloke drifting down in a parachute, the rest would have been killed."
Mr North was on leave when he heard the war had ended.
Social historian Geoff Hanson said Townsville was forever changed by the influx of troops.
Air strips were built around the city, homes were commandeered, and accommodation was scarce, he said.
Townsville had been crucial to the protection of Australia, as an air force hub during the battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, stopping the Japanese fleet advancing south.
By 1945 many in the city felt that the threat was over, and by August news had come that a Japanese surrender was imminent.
"People started congregating around Flinders Street, about 9am on the 15th … and sure enough it came," Mr Hanson said.
RSL Queensland president Stephen Day estimated there were 1,000 surviving World War II veterans in Australia.
"I hope when we have another milestone commemoration, in five years, there are some [veterans] around," Mr Day said.
"But the simple maths is … if you were 19 when you joined at the end of the war … you're 99 today, and not many folks live beyond 100," he said.
"I hope there are some left but this could be the last one."