The WW 2 Diamond T Register

dizzyt,there is surely other T,s around its just getting on to who owns em,at the Whyndam (100 or so kms away) rubbish tip at the same time was a GMC (i think)6x6 it had been cut in half behind the cab, diffs,open cab,chassis only but remember thinking that was in a remarkably clean condition and shouldnt have ended up that way unfortunately the north west of WA was and still is a long way from anywhere making recovery expensive.i did own a 6x6 1945 studebaker ,sold down south of WA in 1990s

dizzyt,you got me thinking i have tried for years to find info on RAAF H.B.R.T.U heavy bomber replacement training unit P.N.G. my dad was a air gunner in yank Liberators training Aussie crews up.found 5Th airforce site which lists Aussie crews but have been unsuccessful in finding his name so far,will keep trying. WW11 stuff in general interests me,a good site is Peter Dunns_ Oz at war_ pages,especially on Townsville where we lived 2003_2006 but covers all of Aust

John - You can get basic info on your Dad's service, by going to the WW2 honour roll.
This roll, along with the Vietnam Veterans honour roll, lists everyone that served in any capacity, in the Military, in both these conflicts.

www.ww2roll.gov.au/

You can also write to the Military Directorate, and request that they produce any military records held by them on your father. These records are extensive, and range from signing-up forms .. to medical treatment records .. units served in .. charges .. promotions .. honours awarded .. transfers .. and discharge records.

You will be required to pay about $25 or $30 for the search, and for carrying out reproduction of records. I did this with my Dad's records, as he was reluctant to say much about what he did during WW2.

As it turns out, he joined up with the RAAF, was accepted to be trained as a diesel fitter .. but the company he had a (lousy) temporary job with (a galvanising works), squealed to the RAAF CO, that Dad was required as Manpower, because the company was undertaking major galvanising work for the U.S. Navy submarines, that were stationed in Fremantle during WW2.

As a result, the RAAF sent him back to the galvanising works (a job he hated), and he had to serve out the entire wartime there.
He did join up with the 3rd Battalion, Swanbourne Volunteer Defence Corps .. and served in a coastwatch capacity .. but he had to resign after 18 mths .. as the long hours in the galvanising works .. and the night piquets on the beach and waterfront .. meant he got very little sleep!

Ron,i have checked the honour roll etc probably need to find someone(or relative) who actually dealt with HBRTU themslves,i even went to archives in Canberra once,got sum info but wasnt reliable,requested numbers of archive and got a floorplan of old parliament house no,s coressponded but mixed up sometime in past,seeing as it takes the following day to gt results i ran out of time

John - The book, "Under the Southern Cross", by Bob Livingstone, has a few paragraphs about the HBRTU ..

What is making it difficult for you, is the Unit operated under several names (not uncommon in WW2 as units were re-arranged and re-named) ..

books.google.com.au/books?id=YbefAXLgqbM...page&q=HBRTU&f=false

Dear All who are writing on this page. This past year I have been trying to research several persons WW2 exploits, Matron from school was easy & I found out a lot about her, as I had her service number, the two masters were extreamly hard as they had both become Priests after the war, as I hadn't got there service numbers I found it impossible, so have given up on them,as to My family I had a better result, and managed to find out about my cousin who unfortunatley was killed just before I was born, I also found out that a cousin of my Mother in Law was Mosquito Pilot he also was killed just after the war. The moral of this story is, unless you have a Service Number for the person you are researching I am afriad you wont find anything about them, well thats the case in the UK, so i would imagine its probably the same where you are, but I wish you the best of luck, if any of you want help from this end, please contact me.

dizzyi,i have all his service no,s he was in Fremantle fortress gun batteries (army) Perth WA till 44 then transferred into RAAF,if it wernt for entries in his discharge papers etc then you might think he maybe just got mixed up,he received his flight log book in late seventies and promptly tore out and burned all but the 1st page which lists training on Avro Ansons,mum said he used to have bad nightmares for years after the war,had me wondering for years what he/they might have done on missions,

dizzyt, things and people too fade with time i should really try getting on to Raaf associations etc ,i think i would ideallylike to find someone who actually had contact with my old man ,possibly only last resort.apparently whilst training with the American crews he would come home on leave wearing full US uniform,something i think which wouldnt have been viewed too favourably by RAAF had he been caught,i know he flew out of Dobadura PNG as a waist gunner,and that he said he never actually got placed with Aussie crew but spent his whole time there with yank crew,anyway i digress from original subject,best of luck on the register -John

I would like to wish all fellow members of this Forum A Happy New Year, and if you know anyone living in the flood areas of Australia, our hearts go out to them. This letter is to inform all the folks who have read my request for information regarding The Diamond T 980/981 (or sometimes known as The M19), we have re named the Register as The WW11 Diamond T Register, and you can access it from Google, please have a look, as hopefully it will interest you, I would like to thank all the forum members who have contributed so far & will look forward to much more interest in the future, we are only registering the DT 980/981 at the moment, we will see how things go regarding the other MK's of Diamond T vehicle. Please also view the Historic Military Vehicle Forum, where I think you will be surprised on how many vehicles are being restored & shown through out the UK & World. Thank you for your interest.

Dizzy
GuddayM8
Not sure if U aware of this one
www.diamondtclassics.com/
Cya
[ch9787]