Warramunga pt 1
Dad. 1915 drop..middle of the war to end all wars..there were three brothers all up..one lasted until he was 18 or so..took his horse up the east coast of tassie..struck inclement weather, got cold and wet..and nobody would take him in..pneumonia I think it was. So, after that, nobody names their offspring after this unfortunate..uncle he must have been. 1914, Dads older brother was born..he was a sensitive soul..betook himself to England, did pottery and such, came back, found that pottery didn’t pay all that well, and ended up having work here and there in Hobart..raised a family. Dad was on the Warramunga during the war..they wouldn’t take him in tassie..protected occupation farming was..so off he went to victoria..and they accepted him into the navy. Was on one ship that was almost totalled 1/2 a day or so after he was drafted to the Warramunga..he didn’t talk much about his war service..he just got on with life I guess. But..he wasn’t taken pow, didn’t have a ship sunk under him, and didn’t sufffer the trauma that a lot of others did in that particular war. One story he did delight in telling..to who-ever would listen..the new Warramunga invited him along in Hobart for a cocktail party..he dragged me along..was interesting! Must have told this story a dozen times..well, ok, maybe 1/2 a dozen. Goes like this. He was the guy who pressed the trigger..foot pedal actually, on the Bofors gun..B emplacement..when the officer said fire!..he also wound the gun around with these levers..goes around in circles..goes up and down, and traverses left to right and vice versa.Think actually there were two of them..one for the up and down, the other for sideways…anyway. Dads telling the story! So, the oic of the fleet was american, and they had had some friendly fire..when zeros went low betwen ships, and they fired at each other by mistake…so the oic said..when the enemy comes low in, no-one is to shoot at them! So, dads busy training his gun..kept a perfect bead on this blighter..then..cease fire! Dad…reckoned he could have shot it down easy..but orders were orders! And the sod went and sunk one of our ships…Dad said it was the Hood, ..but it wasn’t eh. And the yank congratulated everyone..
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