Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Allan Fathers enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve on 31st January 1944. He trained at HMAS Cerberus and was allocated to the Communications Branch where he learnt Morse code and flags. The instruction was provided by English Marines. After 5 months of training, he was posted to HMAS Penguin, the naval base in the Sydney suburb of Balmoral. During this posting, he served on HMAS Patterson and HMAS Narani, both mine sweepers operating in Sydney Harbour.
Soon after, he was posted to Thursday Island and then on to the Pacific Islands around New Guinea.

As a signalman, Allan was in great demand. Small boats and vessels would be sent out for general purpose patrols, mine sweeping, ship repairs and resupply of stores. As they went out, Allan would go on board to provide the required communications. He served on HMAS Gumleaf, HMAS Gympie, HMAS Bingera, HMAS Mombah, HMAS Platypus, the Fay C, Jon Jim, Ping Wo, and the Whangpu. These craft were small vessels converted for use but many were hardly sea worthy and on several occasions, Allan and the crew were overdue and feared lost in rough seas. HMAS Platypus was a large repair and maintenance vessel had a crew of over 300 with 5-6 other signalman and he was posted to this ship on a number of occasions and he enjoyed his time on this major repair ship.

At Milne Bay, Allan’s small vessel had to wait at the entrance of the harbour to provide maps to American Liberty Ships as they entered harbour. One American Cruiser threatened to sink them, rather than accept the small boat’s challenge. The Japanese would fly over Morotai and drop a bomb or two so they had to make sure lights were out, but Allan claimed the Americans were a bit trigger happy so they were a bigger threat !

Allan was seconded to Naval Office in Command at Mollucas Island Area Communications and was on duty on the HMAS Platypus at Morotai when the Commander of the Second Japanese Army, Lt. General Teshima signed the Surrender of Japanese Forces on 9th September 1945. The surrender was accepted by General Sir Thomas Blamey.

After the Japanese surrender, Allan returned to the Navy Office based at Potts Point in Sydney until his discharge from the Navy on 14/1/1947.

Allan’s father, Walter Lamont Fathers was one of the first to enlist with the 11th Battalion AIF at Blackboy Hill, WA. He landed at Gallipoli, later went to the Western Front, was wounded at Proyart in late August 1918 but survived WW1 to die of natural causes in 1980 at the age of 86. Allan’s uncles Eugene, Ern and Albert all enlisted in the AIF for WW1, and Eugene put his age down and rejoined the army to serve in WW11, together with another brother Malcolm who also enlisted in the army. A cousin of Walter, Eugene, Albert and Harold, Ormond Fathers from Hornsby NSW, was killed at Gallipoli but has no known grave with his name listed on the Lone Pine Memorial.

The Fathers family has certainly demonstrated a commitment and dedication to the service of our nation. We, as the next Fathers generation, are very proud of their service.