Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Hamer GREENWOOD AIF. 1921 ~ 2011 World War 2 History

Written and compiled from notes, interviews and discussions by Colin Greenwood (Son) in 2017


Recollections from Charles Greenwood. Leading Aircraft Man. Cook and Chef.

Summary of Life, Enlistment and service.

Australia entered the war and Charles Greenwood, his father Arthur Rex Lytton Greenwood and elder brother Rex Greenwood were among the first to join the army. Charlie wasted no time in following, but decided on the air force (also chosen by his sister Dorothy)
Following completion of basic training and a posting to Cunderdin W.A. he returned to Melbourne and became engaged. The war years saw them separated, with Charlie serving in the war against Japan in the islands off New Guinea.
Before mobilization to New Guinea, Charlie managed to return to Melbourne on a surprise two week leave pass while recuperating from a tropical illness. He and Sylvia decided to get married and spend a couple of days together honeymooning at Alexandra Victoria. Charles returned to the war and he and Sylvia were not to see each other again until it ended a year and a half later. The marriage lasted 67 years.
Charlie would share stories of his war time days with family and friends, his years in the air force were difficult and arduous and he always saw his clear duty to be at the front. His squadron suffered frequent attacks and raids from nearby enemy airfields. This was because they stood between the advancing Japanese and the Australian mainland. He moved with his Beaufort bomber squadron to several bases including Goodenough Island. During those years a lifelong friendship was forged with his mate and fellow cook, Jimmy Roads. Charlie was injured in one of the dozens of bombing raids after a bomb ignited a fuel dump alongside his kitchen, so he spent time in hospital in Townsville recovering from burns. His bravery and determination to serve his country never wavered, and Charlie would only say that he was there to do his duty.
The war ended and Charles returned to his wife Sylvia, and civilian life, after vowing that he would never again take orders from any man….and so began a working life where mostly, Charlie ran his own business and was his own boss.
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Service on Kiriwina and Goodenough Island.

Told to Colin & Barb ~ at Charlie’s front letterbox of their Bellfield home as we discussed the movie Kokoda and written on 29/4/2006

Charlie said he would like to see the movie as it was still of great interest to him.
When he was told it was very realistic and graphic, he replied “It didn’t matter as he doesn’t suffer from any wartime nightmares anymore.”

He told us that he was based in the war on 2 important islands. Kiriwina and Goodenough Island.
He went on to explain that they were in a direct line with Rabaul, where the Japanese had a large force and an important base. He described the Australian role there as a launching site for attacks on the Japanese forces which were in range.
He spoke of how our bombers (Mosquitos) were equipped with torpedo bombs designed to sink enemy shipping.
The flight path to bomb the ships required the pilots to fly through the steep mountain passes then into the heavily defended Rabaul harbour for their bombing runs. These had to be low and slow in order to drop the torpedo.
Casualties were severe and Charlie described it as, "a hopeless task for the poor pilots who stood little chance against the Japanese guns". The mountain passes at the approaches were lined with anti-aircraft guns and even if the planes survived those, he described how the ships in the harbour had the planes lined up as they approached.
Those planes that returned were badly shot up with sections missing, often undercarriages shot to pieces. Crashes as they attempted to land were frequent.
He said, "It was criminal sending pilots on those missions, as the losses were almost certain".
The practice was abandoned after a while and a new use was found for the torpedo bombs which they had in large stocks. He said a detonator was placed into the centre of the torpedo bombs and they were then dropped on to the Japanese as Daisy Cutter bombs and said that they were very effective.

He was a cook on the base and said he worked to ensure that everyone was well fed with whatever rations he had to work with. He said that he would do whatever he could to ensure the pilots were looked after and recalled that even late at night he would return to the camp kitchen to fix up meals or a supper for pilots who had returned from long missions against the Japanese.
He said that he felt bad knowing that the meals he prepared for those going out on missions were often their last, and he did his upmost to look after them.
He was angry about the losses of the pilots that had to fly those Torpedo bombing missions as he was always one of the last to see them in the 'mess' before their mission. So few returned he would say, "Suicide!"

He recalled that the islands were inhabited with large centipedes which infested the jungles and latched onto your body as you walked between the spaced out huts and buildings. You could only get them off by burning them. Every jungle plant contained these creatures and even your bedding was inhabited by them. He said that mosquito netting surrounding your sleeping area was buried into the soil to keep them out but they still frequently got in.

For lighting in the tents at night, Charlie described how a bottle of kerosene was kept alongside the bed. "A small amount was poured into a patch of sand in the middle of the hut and lit with a match. The soft light from the low level flame provided sufficient light and warmth for the men inside the tent. Men slept on camp stretchers in canvas tents and earthen floors. Mosquito netting was used to stop the mossies and insects, which still managed to get in".
The base was made up of areas separated by the jungle, with tracks leading between each. It was spread out to lessen the target for enemy air attacks which were frequent.

"The spiders were enormous", he said. "They wove very large webs across the pathways which men used to walk to their huts. "We all carried big sticks which were left on the ground at the end of each track when you left. They were carried as you walked to sweep the area ahead of you for spider webs". Charlie described the webs as extremely strong and hard to break with your hand, so a stick was used.
He shuddered as he spoke of one encounter in which he was unlucky enough to walk face first into the web of a very large spider which he described as “larger than your outstretched hand”. It jumped onto his face and attached itself there firmly as he tried to pull it off. He said he still gets a spine tingle when he thinks about that encounter. The webs also contained numerous smaller spiders that also crawled onto you if you brushed a web with your body or clothing.

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Bomber crash at Goodenough Island

Told to a small gathering at a Murray River campfire Easter 2006

A recollection re-told by Charlie Greenwood (age 86) around the Murray River campfire Easter 2006, to Colin, Barb, Michael David (family)and others who were present.

"The islands were very suitable for constructing landing strips for planes. The soil was made of a crushed coral and easy to move and excellent to patch up holes in runways.
After an enemy bombing raid (the Japanese bombing concentrated on the strip to prevent our planes from taking off or landing) work crews would quickly repair all the bomb craters in time for incoming planes to land. Strips were quickly repaired, he recalled. A type of interlocking metal web was also used to cover badly damaged areas."

When asked if he had ever been bombed, Charles told of an incident he experienced when working at an American base in the islands. He said, "Large squadrons of Liberator bombers were taking off fully laden with bombs to bomb the Japanese at Rabaul. This was a regular event. I was at work in the camp kitchen when a Liberator blew a tyre on takeoff. I heard the plane screeching off the runway after it had passed my location and heard it veer into the American troops barracks then explode with a full bomb load."
The explosion he described as “terrifying beyond belief.” “I can still hear it now and feel the force of the blast,” he recalled to us as his thoughts drifted back to that moment over 60 years ago. "It was the loudest, most bone jarring noise I’ve ever experienced", he recalled. You could feel the shock through your whole body. "A noise I’ll never forget. It was a shocking loss of life."
He said that approximately 350 men were killed in that one accident alone. The Americans were to report to the families of those airmen that they were killed in action. He said that was an issue that could never be truthfully reported to suffering families back home.

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Airport Construction with the US forces.

Charles recalled that, "When the Americans arrived in our area I was temporarily assigned to an invasion taskforce of a US unit. They decided to take an island occupied by the Japanese. I was on one of their ships as it stood offshore as they unleashed a devastating bombardment from ships and planes to soften up Japanese resistance before the Marines went ashore.
After this went on for quite some time the Marines went in and stormed the beach and landed a lot of equipment. The fighting was heavy and snipers were still being encountered in the tall trees, tied to the tops disguised with branches.
Not long after the first wave of marines landed an American commanding officer came up to me and told me to prepare to be sent ashore. I was a little taken aback as the main troop units had not yet gone in and there was a lot of explosions and gunfire just beyond the beach. Only the advance troops had landed to take the beach and a fierce battle was still going on.
The commander said I was needed ashore as the troops were tired and needed to be fed, so we went in with our equipment and supplies in a landing barge to set up a makeshift kitchen and do our bit.
I certainly hadn’t expected to be working with the leading attack forces".
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Bombs in the mud.

When I asked Charlie how close the bombs fell to his location on Goodenough Island, he replied:

“Because we were in range of Japanese bombers, it was common for them to fly past us on their missions every day. Usually on their return to Rabaul from their mission they would pay us a visit and always would drop a few bombs on our location usually from very high up to avoid our Ack Ack guns so they weren’t that accurate.
Because there was so much rain and the ground was boggy, they usually just fell into the mud unexploded and after the raid we would get out of the trenches and the guys would come around with a truck and collect all the unexploded bombs and take them up to the tip to detonate. The mud probably saved us on many occasions.” Charles Greenwood 1996

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Memories of events at Goodenough Island

Fish Bombs

"Our squadron had at its disposal a small flying boat. It wasn’t very big and we used it for fishing. When we had fish scheduled for the menu I’d get one of the pilots to fly out and get what we needed.
The idea was to locate a good spot and drop a small bomb or hand grenade into the water. The explosion would stun the fish for a large radius. We would land at that spot and step onto the pontoon with a long scoop net and gather up as many fish as we could and get them into the plane before they sank or recovered and swam away. It was a very effective way to get fish. Some were too big to get into the plane. The plane smelt badly of fish." Charles Greenwood 1996

A canoe washes ashore.
"This native canoe was floating off our island and was being washed towards us. There were a lot of blokes talking about getting it when it came near. I took the initiative and stripped off and dived in and swam a couple of hundred yards out to sea and claimed it. We played around with it for some time. Even did some fishing out of it." Charles Greenwood 1996

Table tennis.
"My first experience with table tennis was in the war. We used a couple of tables and had plenty of table tennis balls as they were used as filling in some lifebuoys and rafts. It was a popular pastime at our base and I became very good winning many contests." Charles Greenwood 1996

PS. Many years after the war my father introduced his family of 4 children to table tennis and spoke proudly of his recreational playing in the war. He played in teams for 40 years and two daughters became State and Australian champions under his mentoring.

Underwater swim
Recalled by Colin Greenwood & noted in 1990
Charles told of activities and recreation amongst the servicemen at the base and recalled that swimming was popular and races and other forms of competition was a means of having fun. The underwater swim was well contested and he claimed to have won it by default as he thought he blacked out while underwater and gained a few extra yards to claim the victory before he surfaced.

A crash landing.
"It happened at Townsville. Planes on a training flight…one came in on top of the other. They crashed joined piggyback and locked together. There were casualties. We all saw it happen. The survivors were in the top plane.
We had a lot of crashes in the war." Charles Greenwood

PS. In 1994 Charles Greenwood was in Warringal Private Hospital recovering. On a visit I listened to his conversation with another gentleman of a similar age in the next bed as they discovered they had both been in WW2 in the same Beaufort squadron and served at Goodenough Island after training at Townsville yet did know one another. The other gentleman was a Beaufort pilot who said during this particular incident he had been anxiously circling the airstrip with empty fuel tanks while ground crews worked to rescue survivors and clear the crashed plane debris off the runway. Charles Greenwood stood nearby and took a photo of the incident.

They discussed at some length their feelings about the brutal treatment by the Japanese and spoke of actions that resulted in the massacre of many men, and mentioned an incident when our side summarily engaged in similar treatment of the Japanese. Charles mentioned that he had a photo of a big such incident with many dead Japanese. His roommate was shocked at this remark and reminded my father that they had been sworn to secrecy and were bound never to publicly speak of this event and cautioned him to destroy the photo even after so many years.
They both agreed that in the war terrible things were done by both sides.
My father never mentioned that conversation again.

PPS2. My father's Beaufort pilot roommate related an interesting anecdote of an early training flight he undertook with his crew from in Sale Victoria.
They were nearing the end of their training in preparation for deployment to the war and had set out on a night navigation training flight from Sale to the far coast of Tasmania, (lighthouses were the whey points)then returning after midnight via Flinders Island to their base at Sale.
In cloudy weather the navigator lost his way and finally after searching for some time, he found that their track had led 100km off course over the Yallourn coal open cut. It was a no fly zone and was heavily defended.
Suddenly searchlights lit up their aircraft and shots were fired as they ducked out of range heading back on course to their base at Sale.
He said they managed to land the plane safely with nothing but fumes left in the fuel tanks.
It was a vivid account of the moments those men were trained to deal with as they prepared for their duties in New Guinea and I was proud to hear his account firsthand. Colin Greenwood. ~prepared in May 2017

SUBJECT: War experience as a Cook in the RAAF. -interview conducted on 12/5/2011

In his own words ~I recorded what my father Charles said.

How did you meet your mate and life-long friend Jimmy Roads?

"I first met Jimmy after we in enlisted as cooks in the RAAF. I had been doing my cooking apprenticeship at Melbourne’s ‘Old Vienna Inn’ in Russell St. and Albury before I enlisted. They quickly assigned me to serve as a cook as they were much needed. We were based at Point Cook Air Force Base and for our basic induction and for drill and practice training we spent time at the Moonee Valley Racecourse.
I was assigned to learn new cooking skills at Melbourne's famous culinary institute The William Angus College. It was a fast tracked induction as a chef because it was war time and we had to learn quickly. I recall training there for about 3 months. I learnt mostly pastry cooking skills. It was very good.
Jimmy was already experienced before the war from working as a pastry cook with his father in law so he didn’t need to attend. We both worked together at point Cook and cooked at the base.
Together we were dispatched to Townsville awaiting deployment to the islands and were there for some time. It was a large base and we worked hard. I was anxious to serve overseas and became frustrated when others were assigned ahead of me. I spoke to the base commander and he begged me to stay (possibly for the duration of the war) but I explained about my father serving in the Boer war,WW1 & now WW2 as well as my brother Rex in the AIF, so he agreed to give me my wish.
After some delay we sailed to Goodenough Island near New Guinea on a troop ship but the Japanese attacks there were too intense for us to land so we were put ashore at nearby Kiriwina Island.
Eventually we moved across to arrive on Goodenough Island. We arrived as a large group on a troop ship numbering in the hundreds. Facilities were very rough when we landed. There were 6 to 7 men per tent. The cooks stayed together.
A portable camp kitchen was good for a small mob but was not good for a large group. They were difficult very conditions.
A large open pit was dug near the rocks of a hillside for our protection, and an earthen clay pot oven was made for the kitchen and that’s where Jimmy set up to bake bread. He was very good at it and made beautiful bread. It was very hard to get flour but they tried to get us whatever we needed. In this large brick oven with Jim leading, we made marvellous buns and rolls etc. Jim always made special dishes to bring back to the cooks tent. We loved his buns and sultana rolls which he made only for us cooks.
His motto was, 'everybody has to come first but the cooks before!'


Altogether we numbered around 5 to 9 cooks and we were feeding around 300 men in our squadron which was the 8th Beaufort. The total number of men serving at the base was about 1,900 but we prepared meals for the 8th only. To cover the full 24 hours we had a specialist Cooks rotation. Cooks rotated a very early shift at 3 AM and would go off at 7:30 AM when others came on duty. Lunch was made up of cut lunches and was usually taken on a bus out to men working on the tarmac.

We were working in shifts over 24hrs. Often in our tent we had someone sleeping during the day. Jimmy was the most experienced of us and we regarded him as the leader.
We had a lot of fun in our tent and were treated with privileges not given to the other servicemen. Our sleeping tent had a faulty centre pole which allowed the canvas roof to slip down. We left it in a state of disarray as we were a little rebellious and liked to cause mischief.
Tent inspections were harsh and routine, but no senior officer would ever go near our cooks tent for fear of upsetting a cook as the entire base depended heavily on us, so they kept us happy and left us to ourselves. Our tent was near the kitchen and set apart from the other area of the base.
We were even given our own toilet nearby – all the others had to use a massive pit latrine. We had it relatively easy! Cooks were never assigned extra duties such as digging latrines. We took advantage of our power and often folded a roll of clothes into a bed to look like a sleeping man as this discouraged tent inspection. It was Jims idea.
Pilots returning from night missions needed to be fed so we always had someone on duty day and night. The troops washed their own plates and cups except for the aircrew as they were given the best of everything. I recall that to manage cups of tea we had large urns.
There was a special mess tent and cook for the pilots.
There could be no mistakes there. The pilots were special and we treated them well."

Additional Comments. My recollections of my father's stories: by Colin Greenwood May 2017

Charlie and Jim camped in the same tent. They swapped their news. They would read by candlelight of a night even a torch under their blankets. (The base was subject to a night blackout)
They would share news from home. They were best friends throughout the war. They were five years together. Food was very limited and a team would go off and collect rations. Everyone was sick of bully beef. Spam was more sought-after it was good.
Jim and Charles did a lot of exploring and walks when off duty and would seek out the native villages and trade for fruits and other food to bring back to base. They found the local inhabitants to be supportive and friendly and my father has many photographs of smiling locals which he took.
He spoke highly of their assistance and support in the war years and
gave credit their help.
With his friend Jimmy Roads they shared a war together. My father always looked up to him as a good role model and leader and they kept in touch down through the years.
At the end of their lives Jim was in hospital following a stroke at age 90. I was there as the two men sat on the bed and re-lived shared moments back in the Air force days. There were smiles and laughter as they became young men again.
Sadly after 6 weeks Jim slipped into a coma and the family had kept a 3 day bedside vigil. My father and mother visited at the behest of the family for a last time. When my father was leaving, suddenly Jim uttered the words "bye mate!" His last words before passing away 6 hours later.
At the Springvale war cemetery in Melbourne, his plaque and that of my Father (who died 6 months later at the age of 90 also) are located less than a metre apart on the same wall.
Theirs was a friendship forged in war, that will last for eternity!

Service Summary. Prepared by Colin Greenwood (Son. May 2017)

Charles Hamer Greenwood at the age of 19 enlisted at Melbourne in the RAAF on 26 August 1940 as a Leading Aircraftman and trained as a Cook with the service number 18266.

According to Charles Greenwood he trained at Point Cook in Melbourne and was attached to the 8th Beaufort Squadron.
He spent time in Western Australia at Cunderdin Air force Base and mentioned Albany, Darwin, Townsville, Goodenough Island (longest time) Kiriwina Island, New Britain, Port Moresby and Los Negros Island. He also said that he was attached to a US operational task force for a time.

He was injured twice, married his fiancée while on leave in 1944 and returned to active service until his discharge. He served for the duration of the war and was discharged on 12th April 1946 well after Japan surrendered.

He made a success of his civilian life raising four children and running his own business till retirement and passing away after 67 years of marriage at the age of 90 years with 4 children, 9 grandchildren and two great grandchildren(and several following his death).

He supported the RSL and spoke honestly of his time in the service, leaving us with stories, photos and an appreciation of what he had to endure for his country. He finally came to terms with the wartime dislike for the Japanese and he had several positive experiences with his granddaughters Japanese school exchange friends.

His war Australian war grave memorial is located within the Springvale war cemetery in Melbourne. Significantly, his plaque and that of his lifelong mate Jimmy Roads is located less than a metre apart on the same wall.

Theirs was a friendship forged in war, that will last for eternity!

(Read full account of his war service stories for details)