I explained in this blogpost how my dad, Norman Buckle, came
to be in Australia in April 1945.
He was waiting with his unit M.S.R.6 to be sent on to Ponam
in the Admiralty Islands (present day Papua New Guinea) to join MONAB 4 (Mobile
Operating Naval Air Base). An extract from his diary describes his first day in
Sidney where he was to remain for almost six weeks.
On the morning of the
9th April we arrived at Sydney, largest city in Australia and second
largest in British Empire. Before entering the great harbour the sea was very
choppy but once inside became calm and we moved alongside without incident. The
main impression I now recall is the first view of the magnificent bridge across
the harbour.
About the middle of
the afternoon we disembarked and travelled to a Naval Air Station a few miles
outside the city which was to be our home for the next few weeks. We settled
down and that same night caught the electric train back into the city. Our
first call was an eating house (American style with little alcoves for couples)
where we made up for the bad food on the ship with steak, eggs and chips.
Sydney seems to be full of these houses and also milk bars. Its trams, trains,
etc are very antiquated. It seems to be a city of ancient and modern all mixed
up.
To read more of this blog post click here to go to Writing a Family History website.
To read more about I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The
Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II by N. Buckle
& C. Murray click here to go to Spurwing ebooks website.
To sample and download the book click here to go to the
Amazon website in the U.K and here for Amazon.com.