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I was born in Australia and grew up in Brisbane Queensland. Born in 1938, I should have commenced school in 1943. But the attack by Japan on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbour in 1941 had brought the USA into the global conflict. The Supreme Commander of the Pacific Army, General Douglas Macarthur had set up his HQ in Brisbane at a time it was thought Japan would invade Australia. A fall back position known as the ‘Brisbane Line’ was decided and MacArthur used many buildings including my school and I had to wait until 1944 to start properly, I have an early memory of this time.

We had a large US Army Base a half-mile away from home. My brother Russell aged 14 delivered newspapers to this camp at this time. He was often given sweets, chocolate, Coca Cola (in tiny bottles) and strange biscuits by the very generous ‘yanks’. One day he came home with a tiny fox terrier puppy, born to the station mascot dog. He came with his name ‘Champ’ 99th Ordinance Company. US Army’ stamped onto his collar which he wore for the rest of his 11 year life. A large part of this 99th Ordinance Company died when their ship was sunk by the Japanese Navy soon after their departure into the Pacific to fight in battles around the Coral Sea.

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