A quiet hero, ‘Bull’ Allen.

Look around at your peaceful day today. As I am writing this I am sitting on the couch right next to the front window looking out at the bright blue sky and cloud topped mountains across the valley. My biggest problem right now is the dishes waiting to be washed. There are places in the world where all is not peace and quiet, but I bet if you have the time to sit back and read this you are not in one of them.

Now zoom back in time to 70 years and a few days ago to the 30th July 1943, and plonk yourself on Mount Tambu in Papua New Guinea. It is hot and muddy, there are disease-carrying bugs trying to eat you and there are a lot of people out there who want to kill you.

It is World War II and, if you are an Aussie on that mountain that day, things could be worse as you aren’t supposed to be fighting. I don’t expect that the Diggers were just sitting back happily watching the Americans fighting though, and one solider in particular certainly didn’t.

Northern Star 28 Aug 1943 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96432417

Leslie ‘Bull’ Allen* was one of the Australian stretcher bearers there that day, and when the American medics were killed helping one of their wounded he went out into the fray to bring back whoever he could.

One at a time he slung the wounded over his shoulder and carried them back to safety through sniper, machine gun and mortar fire.

Soldiers were watching the snipers aiming at him on each trip and taking bets as to whether he would return.

By the time he was too exhausted to continue he had carried at least 12 American soldiers to safety and his clothes and hat were holed by bullets that had somehow managed to miss his body.

The United States awarded him the Silver Star, their highest award for a non-American, and he was sent many letters of congratulation, including one from Eleanor Roosevelt, who he remained in contact with.

Bull Allen has both a canteen at Puckapunyal and the Bull Allen bar at the Ballarat RSL** named after him, but strangely was never awarded the Victoria Cross, Australia’s highest award for acts of bravery in wartime. Historians are now calling for his amazing bravery to be recognized (ABC News) and rightly so.

This wonderful short film tells his story with photos, war footage and the help of his family.

* An excellent biography link. He did quartz crushing demonstrations at Sovereign Hill! Now there are a few of you who are thinking “Wow, I might have met him!” aren’t there? I’m thinking the same thing. 😀

** RSL= Returned and Services League, the local RSL is an Aussie institution and where everyone repairs to after their respective Dawn Services on ANZAC Day for a drink and a game of two-up.

A reinforced nest. 1943.

Can you imagine what Mr. F. Watt, of Rockbank thought upon finding this nest on his property in 1942? A nest weighing 20lb (over 9kg) and made completely of wire is a pretty impressive effort.

Portland Guardian 29 Jul 1943 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64386007

Even more impressive to me is that it included fencing wire. 12 gauge fencing wire is like coat hanger wire. I wouldn’t have liked to tangle with this bird. It must have had an extremely strong beak to be able to build a nest completely out of wire. I would not want it to decide my finger would make a tasty morsel!

I wonder if the nest was still in use when the branch holding it gave way or if it had been previously abandoned?

I would expect that there was a fair risk of death by lightning strike if you were sitting in a metal nest high in a tree on a dark and stormy night… bzzzzt… squawk!

I would really love to have seen that nest, I wonder if it is still around, shoved in the back of an old farm shed?

Australian Magpies are funny birds, they have a great call and are quite bold and intelligent, although during breeding season some can become highly aggressive and swoop passers-by in an attempt to drive them off. They don’t just swoop, they actually make contact and can be quite dangerous. You know when it is that time of year as many bike riders can be seen on the tracks with large, comical eye stickers on the back of their helmets and cable ties or wires sticking up into the air all in an attempt to stop the birds attacking them.

Here is a short clip of a one calling, it is not the entirety of a magpies repertoire but I couldn’t find a clip with their whole call! Bugger. The clips were mainly people feeding them and yacking their heads off in the background… grrrr… 😦

A Bomber, adrift at sea. 1943.

The Sydney Morning Herald 21 Apr 1943 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17845323

Many sailors have been involved in rescues at sea, but I expect that they mainly rescue humans. What would you think if you got this call, to rescue a plane that is floating on a raft? I suspect that you would be checking the date wasn’t April the first.

I imagine that every morning the captain of the Samsonia wandered out on deck and just shook his head to see the Lockheed bomber, lashed to a raft, trailing along behind his own tug. It must have been one hell of a raft, to keep a bomber afloat for three days.

Can you imagine if they were unable to find it and at some later date an  unsuspecting fisherman came across it?

What fantastical story do you think he would attach to this amazing sight?

Guess what I found on the way to school? 1943.

Cairns Post 1 Dec 1943 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42406230

We are lucky enough to live in a fairly rural area. It is not unusual for mums to be waiting on the track behind the school car park in the afternoon with their kids ponies or horses for the ride home. Of course, they get stuck for a time in the midst of an adoring crowd of little girls begging for a pat, but an overabundance of affection is likely the most dangerous thing they will encounter on the trip.

These boys in 1943 encountered a kind of danger that no pony-riding kid would ever expect. Where on earth did an unexploded grenade come from!? Notice that the report doesn’t even mention what an unusual thing unattended ordnance is in Australia? Rockhampton is hardly a war zone!

One part of this article sounds even more strange though, the boys had a narrow escape on the way to school on a weekend? Most kids would consider a narrow miss with a grenade a fair trade if it got them out of going to school on a weekend!

Don’t fish with explosives. 1943.

Morning Bulletin 18 Jun 1943 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56282260

Recently I have posted about people and fish, in both cases the person should have left the fish well alone and they would have been ok. Here is another in the same vein.

When I started writing this post it was with the title ‘don’t swim with your mouth open’. That was deleted when I read the article about the coroners inquest. The title is now ‘don’t fish with explosives’.

It turns out that Attard positioned a friend further down the river, climbed a tree, and threw some explosives into a swimming hole before jumping in the water to retrieve the fish. Apparently his usual practice was to put one in his mouth once his hands were full. Attard had no top teeth so it was quite easy for the slippery little critter to slide into his throat.

It sounds as though bystanders tried a few things to keep Attard breathing, but I am not sure how effective a riverbank tracheotomy would be unless it is performed by an actual doctor…

There are a lot of reasons why fishing with explosives is a bad idea, this is just another to add to the list.