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His enlistment form described him as 23 years and four months with brown eyes, a truck driver and a Methodist. Interestingly his height was 5 feet eight inches. On his demob form in 1946 he had shrunk by an inch! This was to be only a small example of the impact the war had on Lloyd, initially physically but in the long term it set up his value system which he was to endeavour to impart on me and his grand children. These included an acute awareness of the futility of war and an even greater respect for human kind and each individual’s rights for a fair go.
On January 2nd 1942 despite his mother’s advice the army passed him as medically fit enough to shoot Japanese soldiers and on the 12th of January at Wayville Show grounds Lloyd took the oath of allegiance and was officially welcomed to the army’s 2/10th Battalion (Rifles) with the serial number SX 16245. Lloyd often recalled his days at the Show Grounds and mused about the many pits he was ordered to dig in the oval to bury the sewerage of his army comrades. Secretly I think he hoped that one of these pits would open up and swallow a prissy horses in action rider during the Royal Show. This would have been sweet revenge for the dirty work he was forced to do. In typical government style Lloyd was sent home on January 15th for two weeks leave without pay! Back at Gawler he handed over his beloved Studebaker to local Gawlerite Teddy Orwood who used it as Gawler’s only taxi for the duration of the war.
On his return he was marched to Woodside Barracks, a taste of much more marching to come over the following four years. Cousin Lou who had enlisted on the same day as Lloyd joined the Para Troopers as he said at least they flew you to the battle field whereas Lloyd had to march. A week later he was transferred to Warradale Barracks where he was to do the bulk of his basic training.
On June 6th 1942 Lloyd was “entrained” to New South Wales. Unfortunately by the 9th of June Lloyd had failed to report for duty having found some sort of distraction from army life. When he finally did report for duty he was confined to barracks for 3 days. Although not in his official records he often related tales of days in the stockade with the incumbent cruelty that was meted out by the Military Police. Later his father in law failed to endear himself when he let it out that he had been a Military Policeman in the first war.
Two weeks later Lloyd was admitted to The Prince Henry Hospital in the north eastern suburbs of Sydney. It was not recorded what his illness was but it was reasonably serious as he did not return to his barracks for another two weeks. No doubt his mother had known best after all!
On his return to camp Lloyd found that his unit had left without him. It was at this stage that he was to make another momentous decision. Discovering that many of his mates had volunteered for commando training Lloyd decided that this too was a “good idea at the time”. On the 18th of July 1942 he arrived at Camp Foster near Wilson’s Promontory where he commenced training at Tidal River chosen because of its isolation and rugged terrain in
an effort to acclimatise the men to the jungle conditions they were destined to meet in New Guinea. Due to war time secrecy the camp was known as The Number 7 Infantry Training Centre.
Lloyd joined the 2/7 Independent Company which was otherwise known as the 2/7 Cavalry Commando Squadron and was part of the 2/6 Cavalry Commando Regiment.
“Independent Companies were special units, which were much smaller than an Infantry Battalion. They were highly trained in raiding techniques, sabotage operations and conducting guerrilla warfare. They could operate for long periods in remote locations without normal lines of communication.
Volunteers were called for from the 1st Armoured Division and any AIF reinforcements still located in Australia. Volunteers were told there would be involved in special duties in units where high level of physical fitness was required and a higher than normal level of danger was likely to be encountered.
Physical fitness was an essential component of training at the Commando School. Training included:-demolitions, sabotage, night movement and operations, infantry minor tactics, patrolling, setting of ambushes, scouting ,weapon training operating solo or in small parties (parade ground soldiering was out).
The Independent Companies were often referred to as "Commandos". The men of these independent companies saw themselves as carrying out independent guerrilla operations
Tidal Creek Commando Training Centre in the 1940s
and did not appreciate the term Commandos which they believed was the role of the British Commandos in Europe.”1
By September Lloyd found himself travelling by train to near the base Mount Ninderry near Yandina in southern Queensland close to Townsville awaiting the move to New Guinea.
This day came only too soon for on October 4th 1942 Lloyd was “deployed” from Townsville to Port Moresby. They were flown out unescorted flying low, just above the water.
Part of Lloyd’s orientation training was his responsibility to maintain the racial rules of the colony of New Guinea in that after the war it was expected that the white minority would once again return to their dominant position. He was told that in the event he came across natives on the footpath he should ensure that they were forced into the gutter as they passed just so that they would continue to know their place in the scheme of things. This concerned Lloyd considerably and the concern became even more entrenched as the war unfolded and he saw how much the white man depended on the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” as they were labelled in rescuing the wounded and carrying supplies for a war in which the outcome would mean their domination by an outside force no matter who won.
Soon after Lloyd was moved with his unit by aircraft to Wau (see map reference 1) where they joined 2/5th Independent Company and they became known as Kanga Force.2 Here he learnt some pidgin English, enough to enable him to converse with the locals and chart all of
1 http://www.ozatwar.com/locations/no7itc.htm
2 http://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.gov.au/aawfa/links.html
Memorial on the road from Yandina to Coolum
the tracks and terrain to Bulolo after gathering information from the 2/5th who had been there some time.
Wau was a small mining settlement. The Wau area was the scene of a great deal of fighting in 1942-43 because the town stood astride a route from the Japanese bases established at Lae and Salamaua in March 1942, to the Australian base at Port Moresby. A Japanese movement towards Wau was first detected on the 21st of January 1943 and several companies of Lloyd’s Battalion were deployed east of the town to block their approach. This was first at Skindiawai and then onto the saddle at Mubo. All the time completely surrounded by the Japanese. The first contact with the attacking force occurred on the 28th of January but, despite reinforcement, the Australians were not strong enough to impede the Japanese. That night the Japanese moved within 3 km of Wau, then defended by little more than two companies from the 2/5th Battalion. Over the next two days reinforcements, consisting of the rest of the 2/5th and all of the 2/7th, were flown into Wau airfield. With the airfield under fire, the troops went straight into action upon leaving their planes. The main Japanese attack fell upon Wau before dawn on 30 January. Dogged resistance by the Australians robbed the Japanese of their momentum and the 2/7th launched a counter-attack late in the afternoon. This attack effectively marked the turning point of the battle for Wau3.
This was Lloyd’s
3 http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_280.asp
1. Wau
2. Bena Bena
introduction to war and a miserable experience it must have been. Jungle warfare in the tropics was hot, wet, and be leagued by mosquitoes. It required hacking through impenetrable jungle through country that certainly no white man had been to before. Every afternoon tropical storms would turn the terrain into slush and the rivers into rushing white water. Lloyd crossed these rivers without the luxury of being able to swim, a skill that eluded him for all of his life! As commandos they did not have the usual support mechanisms afforded other units and were required to survive, often behind enemy lines by their own wits. On occasions supplies were dropped by air. Often parachutes were not used and apart from the obvious danger of being killed by falling crates of food, the food was often badly damaged by the time they were able to reach it. This meant going from a famine to a feast as they needed to consume the exposed food before it went off. In true Digger ingenuity however when it did go off they distilled it into a very potent “Jungle Juice” which may have made the terror just a little less imminent.
On the 10th of May 1943 Lloyd was made a group 2 Cook. Later when asked what his motivation towards the culinary processes were Lloyd said that that was the only way of guaranteeing first crack at any food on offer! During May Lloyd was flown with his unit from Wau to Bena Bena, (Map reference 2) which is inland from coastal Madang. Here their role was to prevent the Japanese taking the Bena Bena airfield.
By June 11th 1943 Lloyd was afflicted with his first case of malaria and was transferred to Bena Camp Hospital. Malaria is caused by a parasite, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. The only treatment in those days was Quinine tablets and bed rest.
Five days later he was back with his unit and then on the 25th of September 1943 he was promoted to the rank of acting Corporal.
Once again on the 15th October 1943 he was evacuated to 2/6 Australian Field Ambulance again with Malaria, a disease which was to plague him until well after the war.
By the 27th of November he had finished his first tour of duty and embarked at Port Moresby onto the ‘Katoomba’ where he sailed for Cairns for Christmas leave. Unfortunately the scourge of malaria came with him for on the 26th of January 1944 he was again hospitalised with the disease.
He was eventually discharged on February 11th 1944 and it must have been during this time that he made his way back to Gawler for a spot of leave. His brother Barry has memories of the cartons of American cigarettes he brought back with him which he and his brother Boofa used to pilfer and smoke or sell. Barry felt justified in this because Lloyd had a soft
spot for his youngest sister Jean who was by now only 10 and who had seen very little of her eldest brother in her short life. Lloyd often gave her money but seemed to ignore his brothers (or so it seemed to them).
By the 21st of October 1944 Lloyd was back in New Guinea, now at Aitape (see Map reference 3).The Americans had captured the airfield here in the previous April. Relationships between the Americans and Australians were never strong. Lloyd often said that he was in more danger of getting shot by an American than the Japanese, so trigger happy and gung ho were they. The animosity existed even back in Australia where American pay levels compared to the Australians, their smarter uniforms , shops and hotels favouring the well-paid Americans, Americans pinching Aussie girls (and in some cases wives) and the Americans' custom of caressing girls in public gave plenty of reasons for dislike. Several riots between Australian and American soldiers occurred in Australia with the occasional death. These were hushed up so that the public never knew until after the war.
Fighting in Aitape was particularly fierce. Australian casualties in the Aitape-Wewak campaign were approximately 450 killed and 1400 wounded while 5,200 Japanese dead were counted (though it was believed close to twice that had been killed) and 219 prisoners taken.
Lloyd recounts tales of helping the army surgeon conduct emergency brain surgery in the jungle and having to commission the unit armourer to bend threepences so they could be used as makeshift surgical clamps.
By the Middle of November the 2/7th were relieved by 2/4th and they were able to move up to a new line of communication from Nialu to Tong (map reference 6) where friendly natives provided long supply trains to get equipment and food to the troops. From here the 2/7th forced the Japanese from the villages and into the remote mountains and they captured the villages of Yambes.4
4 http://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.gov.au/aawfa/links.html
Lloyd (left) with a mate at Tong (Map reference 6)
“Although their primary role was the defence of the base facilities at Aitape, Australian commanders opted to advance to the east of Aitape, towards Wewak, to destroy the remnants of the Japanese 18th Army. After preliminary patrolling by the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment, (Lloyd’s regiment) the Australian advance by the brigades of the 6th Division began in December 1944. The resulting operations were characterised by prolonged small-scale patrolling, often in particularly arduous conditions. Assaults, when they occurred, were similarly small-scale - company attacks being the largest conducted in most instances. Constrained by supply difficulties, progress was slow but steady. But, the coast was occupied on 16th of March 1945, and Maprik was secured on the 23rd of April. Wewak fell on the 10th of May. Australian casualties in the campaign amounted to 442 killed and 1,141 wounded. Over 9,000 Japanese were killed and 269 became prisoners of war. The Aitape-Wewak campaign is one of several of those fought in 1945 that has been subsequently branded an "unnecessary campaign", but while there is no doubt that the Japanese troops, bypassed and isolated, were strategically irrelevant, there was also a political imperative that Australia should be seen to be clearing the Japanese from what was, at the time, Australian territory. 5
Lloyd had a fairly poor impression of the Australian Army higher echelon that history has shown were often egotists and on their own political power campaigns. Indeed they represented the upper class of Australian society and many were embittered with all of their prejudices and born to rule inadequacies. During the war Lloyd received a visit in New Guinea from the Military Police and he was questioned as to his possible communist leanings, a suspicion they had picked up from the monthly newsletter he received from the Australian Workers Union which he had joined when he was shearing. Interestingly he also received two official letters in New Guinea, one from his ex- government employers in Darwin who wanted to know why he had not reported for work since 1941! The other was from the Taxation Department asking why he had not submitted a tax return.
Meanwhile Lloyd continued his duties in New Guinea. The nature of his unit meant that very often the army paper work did not quite keep up with him. His records show no mention of any involvement in the Kokoda Track (map reference 7) campaign. However I can recall him telling me that he was indeed involved and that a bullet had narrowly creased his kneecap.
Had it been a little closer he may still have been there entombed in the slush of the track!
5 http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_280.asp
On the 19th of January 1945, Lloyd was once again evacuated to the squadron hospital with Malaria. Not long after his recuperation on the 1st of February 1945 he had his acting rank of Corporal confirmed.
Three weeks later he was back in hospital this time with Tonsillitis and then again in the June of 1945 Malaria returned.
On the 7th of August 1945 Lloyd was moved out to LHQ School of Army Cooking & Catering to enter the NCO Cooking Course number 6 where he received 60% for his written exam and 61% for his practical. He was recommended for future promotion to Sergeant Cook. Warrant officer Ponsford Taylor, senior instructor wrote in his general remarks that Lloyd “was a capable NCO with good practical knowledge and organising ability.”
On the 15th of August 1945 the Japanese Army surrendered.
Some modern day academics have wrongly written that Japan never seriously intended to invade Australia. This is utter rubbish and denies the attacks on Darwin and Sydney and also denies some fairly tangible evidence that Lloyd collected from many of the dead Japanese bodies it was his task to search.
Japanese General Hadachi at the Surrender Ceremony New Guinea 1945
captured by
He brought home with him and I still have them in my care specially printed Japanese currency made for the obvious intention of using in Australia after a successful invasion. Never trust academics on ego trips!
From October to February 1946 Lloyd came down with Malaria twice more. Finally on the 17th of February 1946 Lloyd embarked from Wewak (map reference 5) on the ‘Duntroon’ and on the 1st of March 1946 he disembarked at Sydney and was sent to a hospital ship for leave and “disposal.” By the 3rd of April 1946 he had moved to the General Details Depot South Australia and from there on the 5th of April 1946 he moved out to the Discharge Depot at Hampstead where he was discharged.
His discharge papers indicated that he had served 894 days in New Guinea from the 4th of October 1942 until the 28th of January 1946 and that he also served 559 days in Australia. His actual records however indicate that he returned from New Guinea on The 1st of March
1946. As a consequence some months later he had need to write to the Army and inform them they had miscalculated his service when paying him his War Gratuity on the basis of
93 pounds 15 shillings for 25 months overseas service and 17 pounds 5 shillings for 23 months local service. His appeal was successful and the Army forwarded him an additional thirty six pounds. Almost one million Australians served in World War II: about 40,000 of them had died and many thousands more were wounded or injured in the course of their military service. Lloyd was one of the lucky ones coming home alive and with a bonus of one hundred and forty seven pounds!
Lloyd’s War Medals: 1939-1945 Service Star, The Pacific Star, The 1939- 1945 War Medal and the Australian Service Medal