WA4WD
Our Heroes
One can
only imagine the life at
Corunna Downs during the
War, with none of the facilities we now enjoy. It was
apparently an
unpleasant
place mostly. Nearly all the men lived in tents, and they
baked in
summer
and froze
in winter. One story reports that during the hot days of
summer, the
men could not shower until after 9pm, because the water
in
the pipes was too hot.
Around the old air base one can find where the tent sites were by the white squares dirt, often with star pickets driven into the ground around the perimeter to support the canvas. There is surprisingly little debris from this habitation.
On the disc was a name and number. When searched, the number did not match the name. However, the error was seemingly simple, a "1" was stamped as a "7". The number stamped is WX 18570 and Gunner Parker’s number was WX 18510. Did someone simply grab the wrong punch. Perhaps this is why the tag was discarded, it was replaced with a new one.
The ID disc belonged to Percy John Edward Parker. Gunner Parker served with the 102 Anti Aircraft Regiment during World War 2 amongst other postings.
It is an
interesting history that
allows one to literally
touch something that one of our servicemen held close to him
during the
time of
war. Unfortunately, Gunner Percy Parker died in the early
1980s and it
is not
possible to find the reason for the disc being discarded,
nor to return
it.
Near to
Gunner Parker’s tent site is
an old Lewis Gun pit. A
few old .303 casings lie around the tent site and one live
bullet was
also
found on the ground nearby (one wonders did Gunner Parker
drop it?). A
hundred
metres or so down the track is the site of a Bofors gun.
Other ID Discs have been found at Corunna Downs over the years, and one set was returned to the owner, who remembered losing the discs, but just could not find them. They were found at the end of the runway.
The Australian Forces had two ID Discs, one was red and circular and the other green and octagonal. During WWII they were changed to metal, but retained the shapes.
The round tag was removed from the body along with any personal items. The octagonal was meant to be placed between the lips and teeth of the soldier (if time permitted), and was to allow for identification of the remains at a later time.
This is a
simple tribute to one man
who served at OBU73
during the dark days when the Japanese threatened
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| From Corunna Downs Secret Air Force Base |
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| From Corunna Downs Secret Air Force Base |