I Was Only Doing My Job: Australia's Military History

1-MARCH-1942. While serving within the Royal Australian Navy as a Signals Officer, Captain Hector MacDonald Laws Waller served with distinction aboard several warships of the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy during both the First World War and the Second World War.  Having graduated from the fledgling Royal Australian Naval College during the First World War, his posting would be to the Royal Navy Battleship HMS Agincourt, and would predominately perform escort duties for the duration of the war.  As a career sailor, he would progress through the ranks until he was in command of the 19th Destroyer Division at the start of the Second World War. He would be in direct command of two vessels during the Second World war, the Destroyer HMAS Stuart I where he led the ‘Scrap Iron Flotilla’ and the Cruiser HMAS Perth I. He would go down with the HMAS Perth when it was sunk during the one-sided Battle of Sunda Strait alongside 356 fellow personnel of Perth. --- For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

24-MAY-1966. While serving with B Company 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, Australian Regular Army, National Serviceman Private Errol Wayne Noack served as a section machine gunner during the Vietnam War. He was killed during his first military operation two weeks after arriving in-country and would go into the history books as the first Australian National Serviceman killed in Vietnam. His death would go to polarise Australian society about a war that was increasingly becoming unpopular, and his position as the first conscript killed in that war would serve as a rallying cry for those against mandatory military service. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

24-OCTOBER-1943 While Serving with M Special Unit, Special Operations Australia, 2 Australian Imperial Force, Sergeant Leonard George Siffleet was part of a multi-national team trekking through Japanese-occupied New Guinea to set up a Coastwatch position over the recently captured town of Hollandia when his team would be ambushed and captured by a party of Japanese troops and local New Guineans sympathetic to the Imperial Japanese Navy. After two weeks of interrogation, Lenoard would be executed at the hands of the Japanese in potentially the only execution of a western soldier at the hands of the Japanese to be photographed in the act. The subsequent war crimes investigations after the war would be all the surviving Japanese sailors involved to justice, though the man who delivered the killing stroke on Leonard would be killed during the closing stages of the New Guinea Campaign. Len's body would never be recovered. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

1-JANUARY 1916 While Serving with 3 Australian General Hospital Squadron Principal Matron Grace Margaret Wilson in Lemnos, Greece would coordinate the nursing care of wounded Australian Soldiers from the Gallipoli Campaign and in doing so would also fight for recognition and proper treatment of the nurses under her charge. a Professional Nurse before the Great War, she would go on to be Matron-in-Chief of the Australian Imperial Force in both the First and Second World Wars, These acts would result in him being awarded the Royal Red Cross First class and the Nightingale Medal, four Mentions in Dispatches and her appointment to the Commander of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. She would go on to pioneer Nursing Education in civilian life, particularly around Victoria. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

During the First World War, 27 men of the Australian Customs Service answered the call of King and Country. Since the early 2000s, I Was Only Doing My Job background researcher Laurie Favelle has been obsessed with finding and preserving the life service and legacies of each of these 27 men. They were, or are, humble human beings who, for a great many current Australians, are family. Yet now for many, their memory is just a name on a plaque, an initial or two and a surname.   My SIlent Hero will run alongside standard I Was Only Doing My Job Podcast episodes. For more information about the My Silent Hero Project visit The Home of My Silent Hero My SIlent Hero is copyright 2013-2022 by Laurie Favelle, Audio recording and distribution through The Docnetwork Productions. to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

16-OCTOBER-1942 While Serving with No. 452 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader Keith William "Bluey" Truscott in Europe would lead an attack on an evacuating Kreigsmarine Fleet and successfully damaged a German Destroyer. A famous athlete, before the war he played VFL for the Melbourne Demons, and deciding to forgo a successful sporting career decided to fly for King and Country, and in doing so became one of Australia's highest ranked Fighter Aces with 15/16 confirmed enemy aircraft shot down. These acts would result in him being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice. He would go on to serve in No 76 Squadron RAAF in the Pacific, serving the defence of Milne Bay from Japanese invasion, where he would replace Squadron Leader Peter Turnbull as Commanding Officer after his death. Peter Turnbull's life service and sacrifice was episode 12 of season one Sadly like his predecessor he would also be killed in a flying accident while in training with the US Navy. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

23-OCTOBER-1915. While serving as a trooper in the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, Chinese-Australian Trooper William Edward "Billy" Sing DCM has been picked to take the solitary role as being a sniper on Gallipoli where he has a unique record of between 150 and 300 confirmed Ottoman kills during the eight-month campaign. Even with that legacy he also grew up in a time where his heritage was met with prejudice and racism.  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

17-AUGUST-1917. While serving as one of the Australian Official War Photographers, Honorary Captain James Francis "Frank" Hurley OBE was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica, under Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars. His artistic style produced many memorable images, but his predilection to use composite imagery in a time before photoshop gained him a number of detractors, in particular Charles Bean, Australia's First World War Official Historian, and the Department of Information that he worked for in the Second World War. But even with that, he is still Australia's most famous photographer For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

I sat down with Preston Stewart and Seyer Payne of War Stories to talk about Australia's involvement in the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War. This was recorded over Zoom, and the video version of this episode is available on the I Was Only Doing My Job Youtube Channel.  The conversation starts with the Fall of Singapore and ends with the Japanese surrender and even the start of the Korean Campaign.  To find more content from Preston and Seyer click on the below links  Website   War Stories on Spotify   War Stories on Apple Podcasts   TikTok   Instagram   Discord Server  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

7-MAY-1915. While serving as an engineer with the 3rd Field Company Engineers, Australian Imperial Force, Captain Edward Bage was instructed to map out new trench locations on Gallipoli, and as a result would be killed 14 days after landing on the Pennisula, but his legacy is not one of the battlefield, but of Antarctic Exploration, when he spent two years mapping Antarctica alongside Sir Douglas Mawson For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

CW: Sexual Assault- This episode contains a discussion of the murder of women and allegations of sexual assault in war. The sexual assault is isolated to the end of the episode, with a warning just prior. the discussion of the Bangka Island Massacre will begin at 5:16 to 8:06 This is a Special reupload to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Bangka Island Massacre 16-FEBRUARY-1942. Serving as a Staff Nurse in the 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Second Australian Imperial Force, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel would be the sole survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army. She would go on to be a Prisoner of War for three and a half years, but would never abandon her courage or resolve.  Her career didn't end in captivity, and she would go on to serve until 1947 when she would resume her nursing duties, up until the Vietnam War, when she would once again enter the battlespace to help the disadvantaged.  She would receive honours and decorations for her service to the cause of nursing and would uphold those tenents until her death in 2000. She did more than just her job, and for that, we are immensely proud of her.  To Donate to the Vivian Bullwinkel Project or the Bangka Island Scholarship Fund go here https://foundation.acn.edu.au/Foundation/Donate/The_Vivian_Bullwinkel_Project_2021.aspx For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

17-AUGUST-1915. While serving as a soldier with the 17th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Lieutenant Leslie George Fussell, unimpressed with the quality of the bomb-throwing of the men under his command, took a tin of Bully Beef and threw it into the Turkish Trenches. This act resulted in a temporary cease-fire on Gallipoli. He would go on to serve on the Western Front and serve again in the Second World War. Episodes that discussed the Battle of Pozieres Episode 2: Private John Hines, Episode 4: Captain David Twining, Forged in Combat: American and Australian Troops at the Battle of Hamel. Episode 14 Reverend Walter Ernest Dexter For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on  Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

2-NOVEMBER-1932.  While serving as a professional soldier in the post-war Permanent  Military Force of the Commonwealth Military Forces Honourary Brigadier  General Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith served for 47 years  continuously, and in doing so served in the Permanent Military Force,  the First World War, the Second War and the Korean War, but he is most  known as Major G P W Meredith, the Officer Commanding of the 7th Heavy  Artillery Battery who oversaw an ill-advised nuisance wildlife  management military operation that has become more a meme than a  historical event, known comically as the Great Emu War For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at @IWODMJ and like us on  Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

2-NOVEMBER-1932.  While serving as a professional soldier in the post-war Permanent  Military Force of the Commonwealth Military Forces Honourary Brigadier  General Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith served for 47 years  continuously, and in doing so served in the Permanent Military Force,  the First World War, the Second War and the Korean War, but he is most  known as Major G P W Meredith, the Officer Commanding of the 7th Heavy  Artillery Battery who oversaw an ill-advised nuisance wildlife  management military operation that has become more a meme than a  historical event, known comically as the Great Emu War For show notes, photos and transcripts visit   www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at   @IWODMJ and like us on  Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

2-NOVEMBER-1932. While serving as a professional soldier in the post-war Permanent Military Force of the Commonwealth Military Forces Honourary Brigadier General Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith served for 47 years continuously, and in doing so served in the Permanent Military Force, the First World War, the Second War and the Korean War, but he is most known as Major G P W Meredith, the Officer Commanding of the 7th Heavy Artillery Battery who oversaw an ill-advised nuisance wildlife management military operation that has become more a meme than a historical event, known comically as the Great Emu War  For show notes, photos and transcripts visit  www.thedocnetwork.net and follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at  @IWODMJ and like us on  Facebook at I Was Only Doing My Job and to follow me for more history hijinks you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message