Still a Hero

My father was born on October 31, 1900, in Ballyskeagh, not far from Belfast in North Ireland. Friends called him “Pat,” which is also the name he used for himself in his letters home from the front line. When he was 18, he joined the British Army and served his country in Palestine and India for four years.

Ready to leave Ireland, he settled his destiny in a typically Irish way—he flipped a coin. Heads, and he'd follow his brother William to Canada; tails, and he'd follow his sister Mary to Western Australia. Tails it was, and thus he arrived at Fremantle in 1923.

For a while he worked on the wheat and sheep farm of his sister Mary and her husband, John Boyd, near Bruce Rock. However, he left there to make his fortune in the mining industry. While working in rural WA, he fell in love with Jessie Jones, one of the domestic staff in the hotel. Soon they were married and set up home in Perth.

By the time Dad joined the AIF, two boys had been born, John in 1936 and Norman early in 1938. Only 10 per cent of AIF volunteers had children and most of them had only a single child. Most of the young men in Dad's battalion were young bachelors. After four months training at the Northam (WA) army camp, Dad and his fellow troops were considered ready to be shipped out to the Middle East.

Japanese snipers in the surrounding treets harassed the landing troops, but made no direct attack on the drome. Men who were wounded by sniper fire as they leapt from the Dakotas were sent back on the same plane that had brought them. The drome defence troops stayed at their posts for the whole night and fended of attacks. The 17th Brigade magazine describes the scene on the day of Dad's arrival as "Vigorous patrolling. Clashes everywhere. Night falling on january 29. Once again in perimeter. Trigger fingers itchy. To move meant trouble." Just before dawn on the 30th, at least one regiment of Japanese made a concerted effort to take the airfield and pushed within 360 meteres of the drome's perimeter. That day the 2/1st Field Regiment and their 25-pounder artillery arrived. Within two hours the 25 pounders were unloaded and assebmbled. Once they opened fire they inflicted tremendous damage on the Japanese. The Brigade's War Diary gives a brief but blunt assessment: "250 Japs killed, regret no prisoners." The Japanese retreated in the direction of Crystal Creek, a tributary of the Bulolo River. With Wau drome secured, HQ was anxious that the Wau defenders go on the offensive and not allow the Japanese to escape. B and D Companies were to prepare to move out to clear the area west of the Bulolo River and south of the Little Wau and Big Wau creeks. At 10am on Febraury 5, Dad's D Company (under Captain Dick MacFarlane) along with B Companu (under Captian Cam Bennett) moved out of the drome area toward Crystal Creek.

During their first Day, Dad's D Company met no opposition and bivouacked that night on the west bank of the Bulolo River north-east of leahy's Farm. Next morning they came up against entrenched Japanese headquarters' area, and were "badly ambused." Bennet's men circled the Japanese wide through the jungle whilst Major A T Rowan's A Company was brought up to hold the road from the front. Meanwhile Dad's D Company on the left side of the Crystal Creek road ran into a well-camouflaged defences and hot fire to which 10 fell. One of those was our father, Hugh "Pat" Young.

After 20 months in the AIF and only nine days in action, his military career had come to a sudden and tragic end. He had enlisted volunarily and - is- for us - still a hear. As Jess said, "Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends [and family]" (John 15:13). Of the 111 Wes Autralians who served in the 2/5th, only fiver were killed. Such is the lottery of war. The War Diary for February 6 is tense: "Casualties B Coy 2 killed 2 wounded. D Coy 5 killed 4 wounded." The following two days saw further "savage and confused fighting" with more killed or wounded, including Captian MacFarlane, who was seriously wounded on the 7th. So many Japanese died in the Crystal Creek area (some 250-300) then it came to be called the "slaughterhouse." There were widows and orphans created that day not opnly in the sunburnt country but also in the land of the rising sun.

In November 2000, on behalf of my brother and the grandchildren, it was my priviliage to bury Mum's ashs at Dad's graveside in the Law War Cemetery. Pastors Laurie Evans, Varrly Oliver and Brad Kemp led a simple but moving commital service. Dad and Mum's wish to be together again was not fulfilled in the way they'd hoped and prayed for, but it brought some comfort to see thm rest together.