A family research project has unveiled striking similarities between the sinking of a comparatively unknown Japanese Prisoner of War ship and the Montevideo warship that is the subject of a now well-known Stanhope mural.
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There is a stark contrast in the way the two almost carbon copy wartime events are remembered, which inspired Kyabram history buff Murray Gemmill to continue a passion project that was started by his late wife Denise.
The 1944 sinking of the SS Tamahoko Maru followed the more famous sinking of the SS Montevideo Maru in 1942.
Both occurred in exactly the same circumstances but hold different places in Australian wartime history.
Only months after the Tamahoko Maru was sent to the bottom of the South China Sea, a third maritime tragedy occurred when the Rakoyu Maru was destroyed.
In all, the sinking of the three ships led to the deaths of more than 2000 Australians.
Through the initial work of his wife and his own amazing commitment to securing the necessary documentation, Murray has uncovered some strong links between Tongala, Kyabram, Nanneella, Rochester and the sinking of the CC Tomahoko Maru.
He firmly believes the men who were on board the second, less-known, POW ship deserve similar recognition to those who drowned while trapped inside the Montevideo Maru.
Given the Tongala township’s penchant for a good mural, there may be a case for the town to follow in the footsteps of the Stanhope RSL sub-branch, which organised the tribute to their own soldiers lost in the maritime disaster.
It is Murray’s follow-up work that has allowed the Free Press to further unveil the story of the Tamahoko Maru — and more precisely detail the lives of the district’s own soldiers who perished in the flawed attack.
Denise Gemmill was so inspired by the World War II story of her uncle (a POW on board the Tamahoko Maru when it was sunk), Tongala’s Private James (Jim) McGregor, that several years ago she launched a solo campaign to research the historic event that saw more than 560 POWs killed just off the south-west coast of Japan.
The event is by no means a secret, in fact, a simple search and following of several linked contributions by survivors and other interested parties, will give you plenty of answers.
It is simply the fact the Gemmill family believes the men who died deserve further recognition, given so many were only in their mid-20s when they gave their lives for their nation.
Initially Denise, and now her husband, are determined that they are not forgotten.
Given that two of Tongala’s best-known families, the McGregors and the Nunns, are directly linked to a soldier that died on the vessel there may be an argument for a more significant tribute to the event.
The town has become highly regarded in the war memorial space, its Mangan St and Henderson Rd tributes, along with a soon-to-be completed Avenue of Honour honouring Australians who served in conflicts from World War I right up to the modern-day peacekeeping missions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pvt McGregor’s story, along with that of a handful of other district soldiers, has been pieced together through the trawling of historic records and, amazingly, via the first-hand account of an officer who served with Denise’s uncle — Nanneella farmer Lance Gibson.
Lieutenant Gibson served with Pvt McGregor in the 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion, in the Middle East and Java.
He was Echuca-born and due to his rank was “topside” when the torpedo hit and was one of the survivors pulled from the water.
He survived the attack and, prior to his death, spoke to Denise about the experience.
Murray has even managed to source a first-hand account that was written by the returned POW during the Australia Remembers — 1945-1995 commemoration.
While details of the Tamahoko Maru are harder to secure than those of the Montevideo, the stories align strongly on several fronts.
Both ships were torpedoed by American submarines and both were (unbeknown to the Americans) carrying significant numbers of POWs.
More than 1000 POWs and civilians were estimated to have died when the Montevideo was sunk on July 1, 1942. It is considered Australia’s worst maritime disaster.
The American submarine had received false intelligence that the ship was carrying significant numbers of Japanese soldiers.
In April last year, the Montevideo mural gained national attention when the wreck of the ship was found after 12 days of searching in the South China Sea.
That came just a short time, weeks in fact, after the mural had been officially launched on the side of a Birdwood Ave shop in Stanhope.
A team led by not-for-profit Silentworld Foundation and supported by deep-sea survey specialists Fugro, along with the Department of Defence, found the wreckage.
Aboard the Montevideo were three Stanhope district soldiers — Percy Crombie, 22, a local grocer; Alfred Meldrum, 37, labourer on a local dairy farm and William McLennan, 34, a local orchardist.
The other two with links to Stanhope are George Ryan, 32, a fruit picker and Thomas Crichton, 22, a labourer.
The Tamahoko Maru was sunk on June 24, 1944, (almost two years to the day after the Montevideo Maru), commanders of an American submarine again totally unaware that the Japanese ship’s hull contained hundreds of Australian diggers.
Aboard the ship at the time of its sinking, which took all of two minutes, were 772 POWs (197 British, 42 American, 258 Australian and 281 Dutch).
There were also some 500 Japanese soldiers on board when it was torpedoed in the Koshiki Straits 40 miles south-west of Nagasaki.
An escort picked up the Japanese survivors, but left the POWs floating in the water.
Among those left to tread water and cling to wreckage was Lt Gibson, the Nanneella officer who eventually found his way back to Australia and shared his recollections with Denise after she reached out to inform him of her interest in her uncle’s wartime story.
Pvt McGregor (VX48268), from Koyuga, was just one month shy of his 27th birthday when he was killed.
He had enlisted for service at Shepparton on July 25, 1940, before being reported as missing in action while serving in Java in April 1942 and then later turning up as a Prisoner of War in November of the same year.
Also killed on the Tomohako Maru, which contained soldiers from every Australian state, was Kyabram’s Private Lloyd Esler and Rochester’s Private G.F. Wilson.
The POWs who survived (Lt Gibson among them) were left in the water by the Japanese vessels in the convoy and were picked up the next morning by a small whaling ship.
While not on board the Tamahoko when it was hit by the torpedo, two other Tongala men shared a Prisoner of War camp with Pvt McGregor.
Major Hec Greiner and arguably Tongala’s best known returned serviceman, Rocky McHale, also returned to their home town after the war.
Both have relatives who still live in the town and McHale’s name is immortalised on a wing of the Tongala aged-care facility.
The whaling ship that saved Lt Gibson brought he and the other 211 survivors to Nagasaki and they spent the rest of the war in the Fukuoka 14 prison camp.
A book was written about the sinking of the Tamahoko, called Terror on the Tamahoko Maru, and there is even a roll of honour for the 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion in Singapore.
Pvt McGregor’s name is located at panel 74 in the commemorative area at the Australian War Memorial. He is listed as died at sea.
Murray’s research unveiled an article from the Friday, November 10, 1944, edition of the Kyabram Free Press, which offered significantly more detail about the soldiers — once official news was received of their presumed deaths.
It reported that Pvt McGregor had sailed for the Middle East on April 11, 1941, only a few weeks after the death of his father Alex.
He left behind his mother, Mary, and siblings Alex (who was running the family farm at Koyuga, Valma and the youngest of the four children, Roy.
Pvt McGregor and all his siblings went to Koyuga State School and played football for Tongala.
Denise McGregor is one of three children born to the farming McGregor family.
Her siblings are Ian “Nigga” McGregor, who now lives in Moama and in his early 80s, and John, who died several years ago.
Pvt McGregor formed part of a gun crew known as the “Tonny boys”. Another member of that crew was Rochester’s Sergeant G.H Raleigh.
Pvt Esler, 24, was born at Kyabram and education at Wyuna South School. He was described in the article as being “from good stock” and a former Lancaster footballer.
He had intended to enlist in the air force, but instead enlisted alongside Pvt McGregor and yet another Kyabram district resident (Major) Hec Greiner.
Amazingly, Major Greiner was another POW on the Tamahoko Maru. Like Lt Gibson he also survived the sinking transport as officers were not kept with enlisted men in the hull of the prisoner ships.
The revelations of the strong connections of district servicemen to the Tamahoko Maru tragedy is timely given the Anzac Day commemorations this week.
Murray’s pride in continuing the project started by his wife was obvious when I spoke to him last week and if someone does decide to pursue some sort of memorial for the soldiers who died on the transport ship then there will be no lack of detail for the record books.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor