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Letters
William Peter Wilson served in the Navy during WW II August 4, 2012
He was a 'Senior Gunner' and enlisted in the Navy at the age of 26. He finished his Naval duties at the age of 32 years. His role was to look after the 4" semi automatic guns , by keeping them clean, keeping log books and manning the guns on the D.E.M.S. He once had to stand through 142 rounds of fire in training which he said " nearly deafened him." The ships my Grandfather served in were :
In Sydney on December 25th, 1944, he was sent aboard the Dutch Ship "Rnynst" which carried 600 Dutch commando troups via the islands during the early hours of the morning, bound for Borneo. They landed the 600 commandos at Dawn at Borneo, then the 9th division went in after them. He was back in Sydney in 1945, then transferred to Adelaide to the local depot, H.M.A.S. Torrens. He was there at Birkenhead when the war ended in the June. August saw the signing of the end of the war. The RAN wanted him to sign up for another 3 years service, but his reply was " No Way." Some of the areas my Grandfather served in and around were Lae,\ Wewak, Pt. Moresby, Darwin, Madang (PNG), Tasmania, Borneo, Milne Bay, Broome, Carnarvon. After the war, my Grandfather worked at the Port Adelaide Freight Yards for 18 months, then worked on the wharves at Birkenhead, Port Adelaide.
Thank you for that all very interesting. Best regards, |
