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Tropas australianas em uma trincheira, Papua
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Tropas australianas em um buraco de raposa inundado, a apenas trinta metros da linha de frente japonesa na frente de Gona-Buna, na costa norte de Papua.
Uma história secreta de sexualidade na frente
Era uma noite quente em Bornéu e oito soldados australianos estavam sentados discutindo estrelas de cinema que eles imaginavam. A guerra acabara de terminar - Hiroshima e Nagasaki eram cinzas - mas a maioria dos soldados na Ásia continuava na ativa nos ambientes exclusivamente masculinos aos quais se acostumaram. Eles estavam famintos de relacionamentos com mulheres, então a fantasia dos ídolos da tela era intensa.
Um menino disse que June Allyson era sua favorita, outro gostava de Susan Hayward e um terceiro sonhava com Betty Grable. Quando alguém falou sobre Marlene Dietrich, as coisas ficaram quentes. Um dos soldados excitados, escreve Roderic Anderson em suas memórias Radical Livre, disse o quanto queria sexo. Mas quando alguém colocou uma voz & # x27 & # x27sissy & # x27 & # x27 e disse & # x27 & # x27Eu não & # x27t sabia que você se importava! & # X27 & # x27, o potencial sexual da situação tornou-se explícito - então nada mais foi dito .
Arte gráfica . Banho em uma ruína, um trabalho de caneta, pincel e tinta de 1945 por Donald Friend. Crédito: Arte do Memorial da Guerra Australiana
Poucos dias depois desse incidente, no entanto, aqueles mesmos oito soldados estavam bêbados com & # x27 & # x27 suco da selva & # x27 & # x27. Anderson escreve que as luzes foram apagadas, eles & # x27 & # x27 agarraram um ao outro, pararam e desapareceram na noite & # x27 & # x27. Posteriormente, uma conspiração tácita de silêncio enterrou o assunto, ninguém discutiu se eles estavam & # x27 & # x27fazendo & # x27 & # x27 ou se era uma orientação mais permanente.
Naquela época, quando & # x27 & # x27gay & # x27 & # x27 significava alegremente despreocupado, a ideia de uma identidade homossexual distinta estava em sua infância. A homossexualidade era ilegal na Austrália e, nas forças de defesa, os atos homossexuais eram puníveis com prisão perpétua. A divisão heterossexual-homossexual que consideramos natural hoje era um conceito relativamente novo - o próprio termo & # x27 & # x27homosexual & # x27 & # x27 só surgiu no final do século XIX.
O silêncio oficial, um véu de sigilo e até mesmo descrença absoluta sobre sexo em tempo de guerra entre militares reinou supremo desde então, composto por mitologias sobre escavadores australianos e a lenda & # x27 & # x27mateship & # x27 & # x27. Agora, os historiadores estão contando uma história diferente e mais realista, graças ao lançamento de um arquivo do exército sobre a dispensa de homossexuais masculinos na Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Durante as investigações nos últimos dois anos, os pesquisadores Yorick Smaal e Graham Willett obtiveram acesso quase completo ao arquivo dos Arquivos Nacionais, lançado pela primeira vez em 1992, mas em uma forma altamente editada que revelou pouco.
Um dos episódios chave descritos no arquivo completo é sobre uma série de incidentes na Nova Guiné no final de 1943 envolvendo um grupo de homossexuais que se identificam - ou & # x27 & # x27kamp & # x27 & # x27 - homens. Os registros incluem as histórias de vida de 18 desses soldados, que foram entrevistados por um major depois de terem sido denunciados por sexo ilícito por um investigador de defesa dos Estados Unidos.
Os nomes dos soldados e o material de identificação foram omitidos, mas o arquivo detalha como as autoridades do exército, pela primeira vez, começaram a lidar com a ideia de que havia uma diferença entre o comportamento homossexual e a identidade homossexual.
O Dr. Willett, professor sênior da University of Melbourne & # x27s Australian Centre, suspeita que os homens concordaram em contar suas histórias em detalhes em troca de dispensa médica, em vez de desonrosa.
Os historiadores, cuja pesquisa foi parcialmente financiada pela Unidade de História do Exército Australiano, dizem que há muito tempo suspeitavam que a homossexualidade nas forças armadas era muito mais comum do que tradicionalmente se reconhece. Inicialmente, eles juntaram relatos fragmentados de romances, diários, memórias, histórias orais e registros oficiais. As contas incluem & # x27 & # x27 sexo situacional & # x27 & # x27 entre homens - & # x27 & # x27fazer & # x27 & # x27 porque não havia mulheres por perto, então & # x27 & # x27butch & # x27 & # x27 homens poderiam fazer sexo com & # x27 & # x27queens & # x27 & # x27 sem perda de seu status masculino. Este é possivelmente o caso de alguns dos soldados de 1945 & # x27 & # x27jungle juice & # x27 & # x27 em Borneo. Outros incidentes que os pesquisadores encontraram envolviam uma identidade homossexual mais claramente articulada.
As histórias no arquivo dos Arquivos Nacionais, no entanto, são diferentes dessas outras fontes: elas não apenas fornecem uma visão extraordinária sobre a vida de homens homossexuais na linha de frente, mas também detalham suas primeiras experiências sexuais, relacionamentos e amizades, vidas sexuais, experiências militares e suas relações entre si e com os soldados americanos estacionados nas proximidades.
O arquivo, e outro material de pesquisa da Nova Guiné, revela coisas como festas de sexo selvagem na selva, brincadeiras sexuais regulares e ligações com soldados americanos em velhos chuveiros.
& # x27 & # x27Sex foi certamente fundamental para sua experiência de guerra e os americanos foram particularmente valorizados, & # x27 & # x27 diz o Dr. Smaal sobre aqueles 18 soldados. Historiador da Griffith University, seu PhD sobre sexualidade na Segunda Guerra Mundial deu início a sua pesquisa com o Dr. Willett.
& # x27 & # x27 & # x27Trade & # x27 eram frequentemente encontrados no bar da Cruz Vermelha americana em Ela Beach, onde uma grande multidão de & # x27kamp & # x27 circulava. Alguns americanos costumavam levar meia dúzia de australianas & # x27girls & # x27, como eram conhecidas, para o mato de jipe ou caminhão, onde o sexo acontecia. Normalmente havia cerca de 15 homens americanos para seis & # x27 meninas & # x27 nessas festas e era comum que os australianos tivessem mais de um parceiro por noite para manter os homens satisfeitos. & # X27 & # x27
O Dr. Smaal diz que a representação de & # x27 & # x27girls & # x27 & # x27 na Nova Guiné foi moldada por noções comuns da época sobre sexualidade e gênero. & # x27 & # x27Eles eram, nas palavras do reitor do exército dos EUA que alertou as autoridades australianas, homens que & # x27 praticaram o lado feminino da homossexualidade & # x27. & # x27 & # x27
Em um trecho dos arquivos do exército, um soldado conta como faria com outros & # x27 & # x27kamp & # x27 & # x27 homens, visitando a Cruz Vermelha americana em Ela Beach. & # x27 & # x27Várias vezes em que fomos & # x27 escolhidos & # x27 por soldados australianos ou americanos. Uma ou duas vezes íamos ao longo da praia, outras vezes íamos em festas de caminhões para o mato. Tínhamos relações com eles. & # X27 & # x27 Outros falaram de como & # x27 & # x27Aunties & # x27 & # x27 tomaram sob suas asas homens menos experientes e lhes ensinaram os & # x27 & # x27 truques do comércio & # x27 & # x27.
Embora o Dr. Smaal diga que as & # x27 & # x27girls & # x27 & # x27 eram simplesmente um grupo de australianos - provavelmente também havia australianos butch indo com americanos afeminados - acontece que este é o grupo sobre o qual eles descobriram. & # x27 & # x27A evidência está tão fragmentada, então temos que ser cautelosos para não extrapolar muito, & # x27 & # x27 ele diz. & # x27 & # x27Mas claramente o que está acontecendo na Nova Guiné é um espelho do que está acontecendo em casa e isso fica bem claro nas entrevistas. Todas as ideias que estão acontecendo na Nova Guiné sobre seu senso de identidade e identidade são as mesmas que estão acontecendo em Sydney, Brisbane ou Melbourne. Não é uma instância isolada. & # X27 & # x27
As festas de sexo na selva foram descobertas pelo reitor do Exército dos EUA no que o Dr. Smaal descreve como uma caça às bruxas. & # x27 & # x27O exército americano certamente tem um pedigree com esse tipo de atividade & # x27 & # x27, diz ele. O reitor havia trabalhado com um esquadrão de vice, & # x27 & # x27 então ele sabia o que estava procurando - os sinais e códigos das & # x27práticas pervertidas & # x27 que ele estava procurando & # x27 & # x27.
Gore Vidal, o falecido autor americano e veterano do Exército dos EUA no Pacífico, é citado em Dennis Altman & # x27s Saindo nos anos setenta, dizendo que os soldados australianos & # x27 & # x27 tinham a reputação de rolar de barriga para baixo da maneira mais obediente & # x27 & # x27. Este tipo de relato, incluindo relatórios de Robert Hughes & # x27s de práticas homossexuais difundidas na era de presidiários em The Fatal Shore, muitas vezes encontra uma negação severa ao longo das linhas de & # x27 & # x27não houve poofters nas forças armadas & # x27 & # x27.
Mas no historiador Frank Bongiorno & # x27s novo livro As vidas sexuais dos australianos: uma história, é sugerido como provável que houvesse consideravelmente mais casos de atividade homossexual nas forças de defesa do que sobreviveram ao registro porque, quando descoberto, foi possivelmente tratado & # x27 & # x27 de forma silenciosa e informal, de modo a não chamar a atenção para seu embaraçoso presença & # x27 & # x27.
Esse, surpreendentemente, não foi o caso na Nova Guiné. O Dr. Willett disse que o comandante das forças militares da Austrália & # x27 na Nova Guiné escreveu ansiosamente ao quartel-general de Melbourne e queria saber o que fazer depois que os EUA lhe contaram o que estava acontecendo entre os homens.
Quando alertado sobre o & # x27 & # x27problem & # x27 & # x27, a chefia passou vários meses debatendo as causas e como responder, sem saber se deveria usar abordagens legais ou médicas. & # x27 & # x27A existência de várias concepções diferentes (e muitas vezes opostas) de homossexualidade no trabalho no exército - a saber, discursos disciplinares, médicos e morais - apresentou aos comandantes uma variedade de resultados políticos, & # x27 & # x27 diz o Dr. Smaal. & # x27 & # x27Trabalhando para resolver esse problema, o exército se tornou uma das primeiras instituições australianas a lidar de forma prática com as diferenças entre comportamento homossexual e identidade homossexual. & # x27 & # x27
As forças de defesa, no entanto, provavelmente temeram que os incidentes na Nova Guiné pudessem indicar um & # x27 & # x27problem & # x27 & # x27 muito maior, então todos os comandantes da Austrália foram contatados para tentar ter uma noção de seu escopo e como lidar isto. & # x27 & # x27Nova Guiné foi um ponto crítico que fez Melbourne [a sede] pensar sobre a homossexualidade e a identidade e como isso estava acontecendo nas bases e como lidar com isso. Eles perceberam que se tratava de pessoas homossexuais, e não de comportamento homossexual. & # X27 & # x27
Isso, diz ele, foi uma mudança radical no passado. & # x27 & # x27Se você voltar àquela ideia da lenda australiana, aquela ideia de companheirismo sublimado e amizade masculina que se presta tão bem ao exército como uma instituição - houve muito pouca investigação ou interrogatório nas mudanças entre laços platônicos e emocionais entre os homens e talvez onde isso se confunda em algo mais físico ou íntimo. & # x27 & # x27
Muitos dos soldados na Nova Guiné e Bornéu em meados da década de 1940 provavelmente já estão mortos, mas o Dr. Smaal diz que um senso de identidade deve ter sido despertado para alguns deles. & # x27 & # x27Deve ter sido uma experiência bastante reveladora, colocá-los em contato com sentimentos e desejos que não puderam ou não quiseram explorar em casa. Isso pode ter confirmado seu senso de identidade e desejo por outros homens. Para alguns homens, eles não estariam preparados para voltar às vidas que viviam antes da guerra - eles queriam voltar e viver com seus melhores amigos e amantes. & # X27 & # x27
Como um soldado relata nos arquivos, depois de se juntar ao exército e fazer sexo com oito ou nove outros soldados em sua unidade, ele & # x27 & # x27ran sobre muito & # x27 & # x27 desfrutando de muitas aventuras sexuais, mas, cinco semanas antes de dar o seu declaração que conheceu um australiano na Cruz Vermelha americana. & # x27 & # x27Eu estou muito apaixonada por ele, ele retribui meu amor e me pediu para morar com ele mais tarde na vida. Prometi fazer isso. & # X27 & # x27
Dê a ele seu fardo
Um homem pobre na Irlanda caminhava pesadamente em direção a casa, carregando um enorme saco de batatas. Um cavalo e uma carroça finalmente pararam ao lado dele na estrada, e o cocheiro convidou o homem a embarcar. Depois de entrar na carroça, ele se sentou, mas continuou segurando a bolsa pesada.
Quando o motorista sugeriu que o homem colocasse a mala na carroça, ele respondeu: “Não quero incomodá-lo muito, senhor. Você já está me dando uma carona, então vou apenas carregar as batatas. & Quot
“Que tolice da parte dele!”, dizemos. No entanto, às vezes fazemos a mesma coisa quando tentamos carregar os fardos de nossa vida com nossas próprias forças. Não é de admirar que estejamos cansados e oprimidos pela ansiedade e pelo medo.
No Salmo 55, Davi falou da ansiedade que sentia porque seus inimigos o estavam atacando (vv.1-15). Mas então ele entregou suas preocupações ao Senhor e se encheu de esperança e confiança renovadas (vv.16-23). É por isso que ele pôde escrever: “Lança o teu fardo sobre o Senhor e Ele te susterá” (v.22).
Quando você se lembrar da história do homem e seu saco de batatas, lembre-se da lição simples que ela ilustra: em vez de tentar carregar seus fardos sozinho, coloque-os nas mãos de Deus. & # 151 Henry Bosch
Dê a Ele cada problema desconcertante,
Todas as suas necessidades para Ele tornar conhecidas
Traga a Ele seus fardos diários & # 151
Nunca os carregue sozinho! & # 151Adams
Deus nos convida a sobrecarregá-Lo com o que nos sobrecarrega.
Datas de nascimento ocorridas em 25 de abril:
1214 Luís IX, rei da França (1226-70)
1228 Koenraad IV Rei católico romano alemão (1237-54)
1284 Eduardo II, rei da Inglaterra (1307-27)
1599 Oliver Cromwell, lorde protetor puritano da Inglaterra (1653-58)
Astrônomo James Ferguson de 1710
1792 John Keble Sacerdote / fundador anglicano (Movimento de Oxford)
1825 Charles Ferdinand Dowd EUA, fusos horários padronizados
1840 James Dearing Brigadeiro-General (Exército Confederado), morreu em 1865
1874 Guglielmo Marconi Bologna Itália, inventor (rádio / Nobel 1909)
1900 Wolfgang Ernst Pauli Áustria, físico (inibição de Pauli / Nobel 1945)
1906 William J Brennan Jr Newark NJ, 92º juiz da Suprema Corte (1956-90)
1908 Edward R Murrow Pole Creek NC, apresentador (pessoa a pessoa)
1912 Gladys L Presley mãe de Elvis
1918 Ella Fitzgerald Newport News VA, cantora de jazz (The First Lady of Song, Is it live ou Memorex, A-Tisket A-Tasket)
1923 Albert King Indianola MS, cantor / guitarrista de blues (Bad Look Blues)
1925 Flannery O'Connor contista (ou 25/03)
1930 Paul Mazursky Brooklyn NY, escritor / diretor (Moscou no Hudson)
1932 Meadowlark [George] Lemon estrela do basquete (Harlem Globetrotter)
1940 Al Pacino New York NY, ator (And Justice For All, Godfather, Scorpio)
1942 Jon Kyl (senador-republicano-AZ)
1945 Stu Cook Oakland CA, baixista de rock (Creedence Clearwater Revival-Proud Mary)
1952 Vladislav Tretiak jogador de hóquei da URSS (Olympics-gold-1972, 76)
1971 Michelle Harris Newark DE, Miss Delaware-America (1996)
Mortes ocorridas em 25 de abril:
1295 Sancho IV, o Bravo, erudito / rei de Castela / Le & oacuten, morre
1342 Bento XII [Jacques Fournier] Papa (1334-42), morre
1482 Margaret of Anjou Queen (Henry VI), morre
1607 Don Juan Alvarez Almirante espanhol (Gibraltar), morre em batalha
1744 Anders Celsius Astrônomo sueco (Centegrade Thermometer), morre aos 42 anos
1840 Sim & eacuteon-Denis Poisson Matemático francês (Poisson verdeling), morre
1862 Charles Ferguson Smith US Union General-Major, morre de infecção aos 55
1882 Johann CF Z & oumlllner Astrônomo alemão (astro fotografia), morre
1905 Jacob Olie, fotógrafo holandês, morre aos 70 anos
1937 Clem Sohn, artista de show aéreo morre aos 26 anos, quando seu pára-quedas não abre
1955 Paulus B Barth Pintor / litógrafo suíço, morre aos 73 anos
1960 Amanullah emir / rei do Afanistão (1919-28), morre aos 67
1981 Dixie, um camundongo que viveu 6 e 12 anos, morre
1982 Don Wilson, locutor de TV (Jack Benny Show), morre aos 81 anos
1982 John Cody cardeal / arcebispo de Chicago dos EUA (1965-82), morre aos 74 anos
1982 William R Burnett US, escritor (Asphalt Jungle), morre aos 82 anos
1988 Clifford D [onald] Simak autor de ficção científica (Hugo, Way Station), morre aos 83
Apresentador do game show Art Fleming de 1995 (Jeopardy), morre aos 74 anos
1995 atriz / dançarina de Ginger Rogers (cartola, Stage Door), morre aos 83
Relatado: MISSING em ACTION
1967 STACKHOUSE CHARLES D .--- SHEBOYGAN WI.
[03/04/73 LANÇADO PELO DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 WESKAMP ROBERT LARRY --- ARVADA CO.
[03/06/74 PERMANECE DEVOLVER]
1968 CROSSMAN GREGORY J .--- STURGIS MI.
1971 LEMON JEFFREY C .--- FLOSSMOOR IL.
1971 ODOM CHESTER R. II
[AWOL?]
1971 SIGAFOOS WALTER H. III --- RICHBORO PA
1972 BROWNLEE ROBERT W .--- CHICAGO IL.
1975 WALSH BRIAN
[LED AFASTADO NO GUNPOINT]
1975 YIM JOHN SUNG
Dados POW / MIA e Bios fornecidos por
o P.O.W. REDE. Skidmore, MO. EUA.
Neste dia.
1185 Batalha marítima em Dan-no-ura Minamoto Yoritomo vence a família Taira
1449 Antipapa Félix V renuncia
1507 Geógrafo Martin Waldseemuller primeiro nome usado América
1607 Batalha em Gibraltar. Frota holandesa vence frota espanhola / portuguesa
Formulários do Banco de Empréstimo de Amsterdã 1614
1660 Congresso de Convenção de Londres se reúne e vota para restaurar Carlos II
1684 Patente concedida para o dedal
1707 Batalha de Almansa-franco-forças espanholas derrotam anglo-portugueses
1719 Daniel Defoes publica & quotRobinson Crusoe & quot
1792 Guilhotina 1ª usada, executa salteador Nicolas J Pelletier
1850 Paul Julius Reuter, usa 40 pombos para calcular os preços do mercado de ações
1859 Lançamento do Canal de Suez
1861 7ª Nova York chega para reforçar Washington DC
1861 Batalha de Lavaca TX
1862 Batalha de New Orleans LA - O almirante Farragut dos EUA ocupa Nova Orleans
1864 Battle of Marks 'Mill AR (Expedição Camden)
1867 Tóquio é aberta ao comércio exterior
1875 Data mais recente para neve mensurável em NYC (3 & quot)
1876 Chicago Cubs 1º jogo da Liga Nacional, vence Louisville por 4-0 (1ª partida da Liga Nacional)
1881 petição de 250.000 alemães para impedir a entrada de judeus estrangeiros na Alemanha
1881 Tropas francesas ocupam a Argélia e a Tunísia
1886 Sigmund Freud abre prática na Rathausstrasse 7, Viena
1896 - Luta no Central Dance Hall começa a disparar (Cripple Creek CO)
1898 EUA declaram guerra à Espanha por causa de Cuba
1901 Nova York se torna o primeiro estado a exigir placas de automóveis (taxa de US $ 1)
1915 78.000 tropas ANZAC aterrissam em Gallipoli
1925 Paul von Hindenburg eleito 2º Presidente da Alemanha (Adolf Hitler é 3º)
1926 A ópera & quotTurandot & quot de Giacomo Puccini, estreia em Milão
1926 O oficial cossaco persa Reza Chan se autora como Shah Palawi
1927 A Espanha envia 20.000 soldados para o Marrocos (levante Rifkabylen)
1928 Buddy, um pastor alemão, torna-se o primeiro cão-guia para cegos
1933 EUA e Canadá abandonam o padrão ouro
1944 United Negro College Fund incorpora
1945 46 países convocam Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Organização Internacional em San Francisco CA
1945 Clandestine Radio 1212, usada para fraudar a transmissão final da Alemanha nazista
1945 Último ataque de Boeing B-17 contra a Alemanha nazista
1945 EUA e forças soviéticas se reúnem em Torgau, Alemanha, no rio Elba
O Exército Vermelho de 1945 cerca Berlim completamente
1947 Começa o julgamento contra o prefeito de Amsterdã Edward Vo & ucircte da Segunda Guerra Mundial
1950 Chuck Cooper torna-se o primeiro negro a jogar na NBA
1952 American Bowling Congress aprova o uso de um armador automático de pinos
1952 6º Campeonato da NBA, Minneapolis Lakers, derrotou o New York Knicks por 4 jogos a 3
1953 Cientistas identificam DNA
1954 Bell Labs anuncia a primeira bateria solar (New York NY)
Invasão britânica de 1954 em Nairóbi, Quênia (25.000 suspeitos de Mau Mau são presos)
1954 EUA realizam teste nuclear atmosférico na Ilha do Biquíni
& QuotHeartbreak Hotel & quot de Elvis Presley de 1956 chega ao primeiro lugar
1957 1º reator nuclear experimental de sódio operado
1957 Ibrahim Hashim forma governo da Jordânia
1959 St Lawrence Seaway ligando Atlantic, Great Lakes abre para navegação
1960 1ª circunavegação submersa da Terra concluída (Tritão)
O foguete Mercury / Atlas de 1961 decolou com um manequim eletrônico
Circuito integrado de patentes de 1961 Robert Noyce
1961 Premier Mo & iumlse Tsjombe de Katanga é preso no Congo
1967 Aborto legalizado no Colorado
1967 Jules Feiffer's & quotLittle Murders & quot, estreia em Nova York
1971 Cerca de 200.000 manifestantes anti-Guerra do Vietnã marcham em Washington DC
1972 Hans-Werner Grosse planou 907,7 milhas (1.461 km) em um AS-W-12
1974 O chanceler Willy Brandt, secretário Güumlnther Guillaume, é descoberto como espião
1974 Marcello Caetano deposto em Portugal é exilado para a Madeira e mais tarde para o Brasil (revolução dos cravos)
1975 Partido Socialista de Mario Soares vence 1ª eleição livre em Portugal
1975 Explodida embaixada da Alemanha Ocidental em Estocolmo, Suécia
O meio-campista do Cub de 1976, Rick Monday, resgata bandeira dos EUA de 2 fãs que tentaram atear fogo nela
Eleições de 1976 no Vietnã para uma Assembleia Nacional para reunir o país
1978 Phillie Phanatic faz a primeira aparição
1978 Supremo Tribunal determina que planos de pensão não podem exigir que as mulheres paguem mais
Estreias de & quotRock 'n Roll High Schools & quot em 1979
Tratado de paz de 1979 entre Israel e Egito entra em vigor
Anúncio de 1980 da confusão de resgate de reféns Jimmy Carter no Irã
1982 De acordo com Camp David, Israel completa a retirada do Sinai
1983 Yuri Andropov convida a estudante americana Samantha Smith para a URSS
1984 O grupo de rock Wings é dissolvido
1985 Pela 2ª vez, Wayne Gretzky, marca 7 gols em um jogo da Copa
1985 O Parlamento da Alemanha Ocidental considerou ilegal negar o holocausto
1986 ETA ataca Madrid matando 5
1988 John Demjanjuk (Ivan, o Terrível), condenado à morte em Jerusalém
1990, o telescópio espacial Hubble é colocado em órbita pelo ônibus espacial Discovery
1991 Lisa Olson abre processo contra o NFL New England Patriots por assédio sexual
1993 A Rússia elege Boris Yeltsin líder
1994 14 & quot de neve no sul da Califórnia
1994 Rei Azlan Shah da Malásia renuncia
Empresário mexicano e bilionário Angel Losada sequestrado em 1994
1996 & quotBring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk & quot, estreia no Ambassador Theatre NYC
1998 A primeira-dama Hillary Rodham Clinton testemunhou via vídeo para o júri de Little Rock, Arkansas, no caso Whitewater.
O vice-presidente de 1999, Al Gore, estava entre os 70.000 que compareceram à cerimônia fúnebre pelas vítimas do tiroteio na Escola Secundária de Columbine, cinco dias antes.
2001 Em termos incomumente rudes, o presidente Bush advertiu a China que um ataque a Taiwan poderia provocar uma resposta militar dos EUA.
2001 Um avião de resgate saiu do Pólo Sul com o médico americano Ronald S. Shemenski no transporte aéreo mais ousado de todos os tempos.
Feriados
Observação: alguns feriados são aplicáveis apenas em um determinado & quot dia da semana & quot
Austrália, Nauru, Nova Zelândia, Ilhas Salomão, Tonga, W Samoa: Dia ANZAC (1915)
Açores: Dia de Portugal (1974)
Itália: Dia da Libertação
Portugal: Dia da Revolução (1974)
Inglaterra: Dia do Cuco
Babilônia: Dia de Ano Novo (exceto anos bissextos)
Suazilândia: Dia da Bandeira
Alabama, Flórida, Mississippi: Confederate Memorial Day (1868) (segunda-feira)
EUA: National Dream Weekend
EUA: Começa a Semana Nacional de Conscientização sobre Terremotos
Mês de Valorização dos Atores
Observâncias religiosas
Roma Antiga: Robigalia, o deus do mofo, pediu para não prejudicar
Anglicano, Católico Romano, Luterano: Festa de São Marcos Evangelista
Cristão: última data possível para a Páscoa (por exemplo, 1943, 2038)
Católico Romano: Comemoração das Grandes Litanias
Cristão: Dia Nacional do Colégio Cristão
Laos-budista: feriado budista
História Religiosa
1530 A Confissão de Augsburg foi lida publicamente na Dieta de Worms. Escrito principalmente por Philip Melanchthon, o documento constituía o primeiro resumo oficial da fé luterana.
1792 Nascimento de John Keble, clérigo e poeta inglês. Creditado por ter fundado o Movimento de Oxford em 1833, Keble também escreveu o hino, & quotSun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear & quot (1820).
1800 Morte de William Cowper, 69, poeta inglês. Vítima de depressão ao longo da vida, Cowper deixou um grande legado literário espiritual, incluindo três hinos duradouros: & quotDeus se move de maneira misteriosa & quot & quotOh, For a Closer Walk with God & quot e & quotThere is a Fountain. & Quot
1929 O Episcopado Ortodoxo Romeno da América foi organizado em Detroit, em parte em resposta à insurgência do comunismo na Europa Oriental. Anteriormente, suas paróquias estavam sob jurisdição do Patriarcado em Bucareste, Hungria.
1982 Capturada em 1967, a Península do Sinai foi devolvida por Israel ao Egito, como parte do Acordo de Camp David de 1979.
Fonte: William D. Blake. ALMANAC DA IGREJA CRISTÃ. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Pensamento do dia:
& quotA primavera mostra o que Deus pode fazer com um mundo monótono e sujo. & quot
O Caminho de Martha Stewart vs. O Caminho da Mulher Real.
Martha's Way # 6: pincele um pouco de clara de ovo batida sobre a crosta da torta antes de assar para obter um belo acabamento brilhante.
Real Woman's Way # 6: As instruções para tortas congeladas da Sra. Smith não incluem escovar as claras de ovo sobre a crosta, então eu não faço isso.
Novos slogans do estado.
Mississippi: Não somos Arkansas
Padrões de linguagem masculina.
& quot Eu terminei com ela. & quot SIGNIFICA REALMENTE,
& quotEla me largou. & quot
Padrões de linguagem feminina.
& quotVocê não entenderia. & quot SIGNIFICA REALMENTE,
& quotNão entendo, mas não vou lhe dizer isso. Tem certeza de que somos legalmente casados? & Quot
Anjos e Vítimas: O Povo da Nova Guiné na Segunda Guerra Mundial
A campanha da Nova Guiné foi uma das mais duras da Segunda Guerra Mundial. As forças americanas e australianas contaram com os nativos da Nova Guiné para obter a vitória.
Para as tropas brancas australianas e americanas (e algumas afro-americanas) que lutaram lá, a Nova Guiné foi um dos campos de batalha mais horríveis da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Selvas densas, calor intenso, doenças e feroz resistência japonesa, tudo combinado para tornar o serviço na ilha - a segunda maior do mundo - uma miséria. E durou muito tempo: de 8 de março de 1942, quando as forças japonesas desembarcaram na ilha pela primeira vez, até o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial no verão de 1945, combates ocorreram em toda a ilha da Nova Guiné e em suas cadeias de ilhas próximas .
O pior sofrimento, porém, foi suportado pelos povos indígenas da Nova Guiné, desde o que hoje é o país independente Papua Nova Guiné, no leste, até Papua Ocidental, agora parte da Indonésia. A população durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial era de cerca de 1,5 milhão de pessoas, descendentes dos primeiros habitantes humanos da ilha de dezenas de milhares de anos atrás, e dividida em numerosas tribos. Essas pessoas possuíam culturas ricas e, sob as pressões da guerra, exibiam notável coragem, bem como bondade e compaixão. Para os invasores do Japão e os ocupantes da Austrália e dos Estados Unidos, entretanto, os novos guineenses pareciam súditos coloniais na melhor das hipóteses e, na pior, escravos.
Os japoneses freqüentemente tratavam os novos guineenses com extrema brutalidade, assim como tratavam outros povos indígenas da Ásia. A comida sempre foi escassa, e as forças japonesas que chegavam às aldeias nativas muitas vezes simplesmente requisitavam toda a comida que queriam, matando alguns aldeões e deixando o resto morrer de fome. US Marine Robert Leckie, em suas memórias Capacete para meu travesseiro, descreveu o encontro de uma aldeia inteira de nativos, homens, mulheres e crianças, que fugiram dos japoneses: "Alguns mancavam com muletas rústicas feitas de cana-de-açúcar, alguns - os antigos - eram carregados em liteiras, alguns eram sustentados por os mais robustos entre todos eles foram reduzidos pela fome a meros bastões humanos. ” Muitos de seus homens estavam desaparecidos, tendo sido forçados pelos japoneses ao trabalho escravo. Em outras aldeias, a ocupação japonesa não foi muito pior do que durante os australianos. Mesmo assim, nas campanhas seguintes, mais soldados japoneses morreriam de fome do que por qualquer outra causa.
Antes do início da Segunda Guerra Mundial, a ilha da Nova Guiné caiu sob administração australiana. Então, e depois que os combates começaram, as autoridades australianas trataram os povos nativos como crianças - não para serem brutalizados, certamente, mas também para não serem considerados capazes de cuidar de seus próprios negócios. Os australianos consideravam principalmente os nativos da Nova Guiné como fontes de abastecimento e mão-de-obra. Alguns se ofereceram para trabalhar voluntariamente. Outros foram recrutados à força para um tipo ou outro de serviço. Cerca de 37.000 novos guineenses estavam trabalhando como trabalhos forçados em qualquer momento durante a guerra. Um oficial australiano comentou em 1942 sua opinião de que “esses nativos responderão à força e ao comando, mas não serão persuadidos”.
Aldeões nativos carregando soldados feridos para um posto de ajuda humanitária americano perto de Buna, Nova Guiné. Cortesia de imagem da Biblioteca do Congresso.
À medida que os combates aumentavam, no entanto, particularmente ao longo da lendária trilha Kokoda, da cordilheira Owen Stanley até o posto vital em Port Moresby, os australianos descobriram uma nova dimensão para os povos da Papua. As forças australianas que lutavam contra os japoneses nesta região proibida sofreram pesadas baixas e, muitas vezes, durante o combate, homens feridos foram separados de suas unidades ou isolados de cuidados médicos adequados. Os capturados pelos japoneses poderiam esperar longas e horríveis prisões, se não fossem mortos imediatamente. Os nativos, no entanto, trataram os australianos feridos e perdidos com grande gentileza, fornecendo-lhes comida e abrigo ou levando-os muitos quilômetros de volta às linhas aliadas - todos com grande risco para eles próprios e sem recompensas pedidas ou prometidas. Os australianos começaram a chamar os nova-guineenses de “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”, e os jornalistas enfatizaram muito seu heroísmo e suposta lealdade.
Da mesma forma, os “guardas costeiros” - fazendeiros australianos que ficaram para trás depois que os japoneses ocuparam partes da Nova Guiné e pequenos destacamentos militares australianos e americanos - dependiam absolutamente dos povos nativos para fornecê-los com suprimentos e servir como guias. Em quase todos os casos, os novos guineenses forneceram essa ajuda de boa vontade, arriscando e muitas vezes perdendo a vida ao fazê-lo.
Os australianos e, posteriormente, os americanos como Leckie, muitas vezes tentaram retribuir esses atos de bondade com seus próprios gestos, fornecendo comida, atendimento médico e outro alívio para os aldeões em sofrimento. Em alguns casos, porém, os australianos e americanos trataram os nativos com arrogância ou brutalidade, espancando aqueles que se recusaram a trabalhar para eles, ou pior. Embora não houvesse uma crueldade generalizada e deliberada como a infligida pelos japoneses, as pessoas que viviam sob o controle australiano e americano ainda enfrentavam péssimas condições de vida. Em algumas partes da ilha durante a guerra, um em cada quatro aldeões nativos morreria de fome, doença, ação militar ou assassinato.
Carregadores de maca nativos carregam um soldado aliado ferido por terrenos acidentados perto de Sanananda, Nova Guiné. Cortesia de imagem da Biblioteca do Congresso.
O tempo provaria que a bondade que os indígenas da Nova Guiné demonstraram para com os americanos e australianos era real, mas que sua suposta “lealdade”, muito alardeada pela propaganda aliada, não era. A verdade é que nunca ninguém perguntou aos nativos o seu ponto de vista. Após o fim da guerra, pesquisadores que buscaram testemunhos orais de novos guineenses que haviam vivido a guerra ficaram surpresos ao saber que os povos nativos estavam unidos em uma opinião: que queriam os "brancos" - entre os quais incluíam japoneses, australianos e americanos - apenas ir embora e deixá-los sozinhos.
American Indian Code Talkers
A ideia de usar índios americanos que fossem fluentes em sua língua tribal tradicional e em inglês para enviar mensagens secretas em batalha foi posta à prova pela primeira vez na Primeira Guerra Mundial com o Esquadrão Telefônico Choctaw e outros especialistas em comunicação nativos e mensageiros.
Ed Lengel, PhD
Edward G. Lengel é Diretor Sênior de Programas do Instituto para o Estudo da Guerra e da Democracia do Museu Nacional da Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Confronto com a Indonésia, 1963-66
Between 1962 and 1966 Indonesia and Malaysia fought a small, undeclared war which came to involve troops from Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. The conflict resulted from Indonesia's President Sukarno's belief that the creation of the Federation of Malaysia, which became official in September 1963, represented a British attempt to maintain colonial rule behind the cloak of independence granted to its former colonial possessions in south-east Asia.
The term "Confrontation" was coined by Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Dr Subandrio, in January 1963, and has come to refer to Indonesia's efforts at that time to destabilise the new federation, with a view to breaking it up. The actual war began when Indonesia launched a series of cross-border raids into Malaysian territory in early 1963.
The antagonism that gave rise to Confrontation was already apparent in December 1962, when a small party of armed insurgents, with Indonesian backing, attempted to seize power in the independent enclave of Brunei, only to be defeated by British troops from Singapore. By early 1963 military activity had increased along the Indonesian side of the border in Borneo, as small parties of armed men began infiltrating Malaysian territory on propaganda and sabotage missions. These cross-border raids, carried out by Indonesian "volunteers", continued throughout 1963. By 1964 Indonesian regular army units had also become involved.
Accession Number: P01499.003
Malaya, 29 October 1964: captured infiltrators emerge from the jungle near Sungei Kesang, South of Terendak. D Coy 3 RAR troops guard them.
Australian units that fought during Confrontation did so as part of a larger British and Commonwealth force under British command. Australia's commitment to operations against Indonesia in Borneo and West Malaysia fell within the context of its membership in the Far East Strategic Reserve.
At first the Australian government kept its troops from becoming involved in Confrontation, not least because of fears that the conflict would spread to the long - and difficult to defend - border between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Requests from the British and Malaysian governments in 1963-64 for the deployment of Australian troops in Borneo met with refusal, though the Australian government did agree that its troops could be used for the defence of the Malay peninsula against external attack. In the event, such attacks occurred twice, in September and October 1964, when Indonesia launched paratroop and amphibious raids against Labis and Pontian on the south-western side of the peninsula. Members of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) were used in clean-up operations against the invading troops. Although these attacks were easily repelled, they did pose a serious risk of escalating the fighting. The Australian government relented in January 1965 and agreed to the deployment of a battalion in Borneo.
The military situation in Borneo thus far had consisted of company bases located along the border between Indonesia and Malaysia to protect centres of population from enemy incursions. By 1965 the British government had given permission for more aggressive action, and security forces now mounted cross-border operations with the purpose of obtaining intelligence and forcing the Indonesians to remain on the defensive on their own side of the border. Uncertain where the Commonwealth forces might strike next, the Indonesians increasingly devoted their resources to protecting their own positions and less on offensive operations, although these continued on a much reduced scale.
Accession Number: P01706.003
Sarawak, British North Borneo, 1965: soldiers of 3 RAR board a Belvedere helicopter to search for Indonesian infiltrators.
The first Australian battalion, 3 RAR, arrived in Borneo in March 1965 and served in Sarawak until the end of July. During this time the battalion conducted extensive operations on both sides of the border, engaged in four major contacts with Indonesian units, and twice suffered casualties from land mines. Its replacement, the 28th Brigade, 4 RAR, also served in Sarawak - from April until August 1966. Although it had a less active tour, the 28th Brigade also operated on the Indonesian side of the border and was involved in clashes with Indonesian regulars. Two infantry battalions, two squadrons of the Special Air Service, a troop of the Royal Australian Signals , several artillery batteries, and parties of the Royal Australian Engineers were involved in Borneo. Ships of the Royal Australian Navy served in the surrounding waters and several RAAF squadrons were also involved in Confrontation.
Accession Number: P01654.008
Member of 4RAR cleaning a Bren gun at a camp near the Sarawak/Kalimantan border, 1966. The marks on his legs are an antiseptic applied to mosquito bites sustained on jungle patrols
Continuing negotiations between Indonesia and Malaysia ended the conflict, and the two sides signed a peace treaty in Bangkok in August 1966. Twenty-three Australians were killed during Confrontation, seven of them on operations, and eight were wounded. Because of the sensitivity of the cross-border operations, which remained secret at the time, Confrontation received very little coverage in the Australian press.
Charles Bean was Australia's Official War Correspondent and later Official Historian for the First World War. Many of the items in these papers were written or maintained by Bean in his role as war correspondent, reporting events for the Australian public at the time. These papers were also referenced by Bean during development of the Official History of the First World War. Read more about the records of Charles Bean.
A brief history on the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples written by military historian Dr Chris Clark with the assistance of a generous grant from the Gandevia Foundation.
Australian Troops At War In Korea 1950
Title reads: "Special Edition - Exclusive! Australia at War in Korea".
Intertitle reads: "Cinesound, on its own initiative, and with the invaluable co-operation of the Minister for Air and Service Chiefs, is able to bring you this, the first of a series of exclusive stories of Australia's part in the War in Korea".
Intertitle reads: "This story is dedicated to 77 Fighter Squadron RAAF which was the first United Nations unit to go into action alongside the Americans in their gallant struggle to stem North Korean aggression".
CU Geoffrey Thompson, Cinesound cameraman, behind camera. CU Bede Whitman, Cinesound cameraman, behind his camera. Pan over Iwakuni airfield in southern Honsu, Japan. LS planes lined up on Iwakuni airfield. MS servicing of machines inside hangar. CU Japanese mechanic on trolley. CU another Japanese mechanic at work on plane. MS Australian and Japanese at work on aircraft. CU Japanese worker. MS Australian and Japanese worker side by side servicing aeroplane. CU bullet-damaged fuselage of plane. MS Japanese workmen taking trolley-load of bombs for loading into plane (2 shots). CU Rocket being loaded beneath wing of Mustang.
Exterior of bungalow in which Commanding officer of 77 squadron, Wing Commander Lou Spence, lives with his wife and family. MS His two children seated on steps of bungalow. MS Spence and wife walk out of bungalow. Spence enters his car. CU Plate on door - "No. 77 Squadron Operations Room". Corporal walks in. MS Crews being briefed CU Airmen types (3 shots). MS Air crews leaving building and entering truck. MS Truck pulls up. Pilot jumps out and runs to his 'plane. MS Pilot climbing into cockpit. MS Another pilot climbing into cockpit. CU Hatch being pulled over cockpit. CU Another hatch being pulled over cockpit. MS Another pilot entering his plane. MS Pilot in cockpit. MS newsreel camera being fitted in belly of Mustang (2 shots). MS Mustang taxiing. MS Control tower at airfield. LS Towards and pan Mustang taking off. LS Formation of 4 Mustangs if flight.
Various shots of Japanese farm workers looking up as aircraft pass from their work in the fields (4 shots). CU Spence's two children looking up. LS Mustangs roaring overhead. LS Dakota aeroplane in which Thompson flew flying over coast. MS The Dakota in flight. LS Wirraway in flight in which Whiteman flew. MS Wirraway in flight. LS clouds and the coastline of Korea. MS Wirraway in flight. Aerial shots of Taegu (2 shots). Aerial shots of huge refugee encampment in a dry river bed (2 shots). MS Mustang peeling off from formation. Various shots of raid on North Korea, some shots taken from planes as they dive in (10 shots).
MS Mustang in flight. MS 4 Mustangs making for Taegu air field. MS Plane coming in. MS Mustangs being reloaded. MS Dakota being unloaded. MS Unloading truck driving off with mixed crew (from USA, Australia, Korea and Japan). MS Two Afro-American GIs looking up. MS American carrying rocket for loading up. MS Rocket being fitted under wing of Mustang. LS Mustangs on airfield with bombs on trucks in foreground. MS Pile of ammunition. MS Ammunition being loaded. LS servicemen in meal queue at the airfield. MS Americans and Australians in queue. MS Americans and Australians drinking. MS lookout scanning sky with binoculars. CU lookout. MS Mustang taking off.
Various shots of another raid, most shots taken from inside 'plane. (12 shots). LS the Korean coastline. LS Personnel at Iwakuni airfield running for shelter as air raid siren goes (practice raid). MS Workers jumping into slit trench shelters. MS Lookout. LS Mustangs peeling off for landing. MS Fire engine and Japanese crew on standby. CU Japanese firemen. Airfield defence man in foxhole. MS Antiaircraft gun and crew standing by. LS Mustangs landing (2 shots). MS Group of pilots reporting int he Intelligence room (2 shots). CU airman. CU Spence and another man looking at wall map. Night shot of plane being refuelled. CU plane being refuelled. MS rockets being loaded. MSs and CUs Australian airmen sitting round drinking beer (4 shots). MS American General George A. Stratmeyer visiting Squadron, he awards Spence with the American Legion of Merit. CU Stratmeyer, pan to Spence. MS group of pilots. LS towards and pan Mustangs taking off (2 shots). Aerial shot over mountainous country.
Date on original dope sheet is 06/09/1950. RAAF = Royal Australian Air Force.
Remembering the “wasman” of Papua New Guinea
Australia’s embrace of the Pacific future needs to look to the untold past as well.
Forty-four years after Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) independence in 1975, Australia still struggles with the legacy of its colonial past. For those Australians who are aware of the history, it sometimes sits uncomfortably. For many others, it might be a surprise to learn of it at all.
As Australia pursues its “step up” to strengthen ties with its Pacific neighbours, this past still echoes. A positive example of the relationship between Australians and Papua New Guineans can be found farther back, in the Second World War. If we let them, the lessons from this history can point the way to a better relationship today.
Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel Raphael Oimbari helps Private George Whittington in 1942 (Photo: Australian War Memorial)
Some of this history is well known. The campaigns in 1942 against Japan on the Kokoda Track and at Buna and Gona were legendary victories. A famous image from that time shows a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel – the term for Papua New Guineans who came to the aid of Australians in the Kokoda campaign – helping a blinded Australian soldier as he walks along a track. It’s a picture that captures the connection between two cultures.
There is, however, another legacy of shared wartime history between Australia and PNG, one which is largely unknown and is rapidly disappearing as the living memory of those involved passes.
Even after the successes on the Kokoda Track and at Buna and Gona, there was still a lot of fighting to be done in the islands to Australia’s north. Punching above their weight in this theatre were the Coastwatchers, forerunners of today’s Special Forces, who observed and reported on Japanese movements and came to the rescue of downed Allied airmen and seamen. Future US President John F Kennedy was famously rescued by Coastwatchers after his torpedo boat, PT109, sank in Solomon Islands.
The Coastwatching Organisation had been set up by the the Royal Australian Navy long before the war, but by 1943 it had been subsumed by the highly secretive Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) and become known as M Special. Some of the original Coastwatchers in the islands to Australia’s north had stayed behind when the Japanese invaded. A number of them were captured and executed.
With their work behind enemy lines, the Coastwatchers helped turn the tide of the war in the Pacific. And they were not just Australians. In Tok Pisin, the Coastwatchers were called wasmasta ou wasman. All but two of the Australian Coastwatchers have passed away, and probably all of the Papua New Guineans.
Some of those who knew the PNG wasman after the war are still living. They heard the stories of the wasman, but rarely tell them. When they pass, the stories will pass as well – unless they can be preserved.
In 1943, the AIB brought 76 young men from Port Moresby to train at a camp in Queensland. The men were from all over the Territories of Papua and New Guinea. Exactly how they came to be in Port Moresby is not clear. Many had been working on plantations away from their home villages in the islands when the Japanese invaded, and they may have fled the invasion at the same time as the white planters they worked for.
Australian and PNG Coastwatchers aboard US Submarine Dace (Photo: Australian War Memorial) In any case, on 21 June 1943 they embarked an Australian hospital ship bound for Townsville. From there, they travelled by rail and road to the secret camp at Tabragalba, not far from Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland. Here they trained as Coastwatchers. More young men arrived later.
The Australian officer who set up the Tabragalba camp, Army Captain Harry Murray, was a Gallipoli and Western Front veteran from the Great War who had settled in New Ireland in PNG as a planter. He recognised that reinsertion of Coastwatchers into the islands to observe and report on Japanese positions and movements would not work without local assistance. And so the young men from the islands trained with the Australians at Tabragalba. They were armed with US M1 Carbines, better for jungle fighting than the Army’s bolt-action Lee-Enfield .303, and deployed back to their homeland on US submarines.
The Papua New Guinean Coastwatchers were the eyes and ears of the Australians in a place where white men stood out. The formula worked well, and the intelligence provided by the Coastwatchers would prove critical to the Allied effort.
In addition to the Australian Military Cross and Distinguished Conduct Medal, Murray also received a Silver Star, the US military’s third-highest decoration, in recognition of his and his teams’ contribution.
Captain Harold Murray being presented with the US Silver Star, Torokina, South Bougainville Island, April 1945 (Photo: Australian War Memorial) Beyond coast watching, there were also successful guerrilla campaigns in Papua and New Guinea in places such as New Britain, where almost all the fighting was done by hundreds of armed locals, coordinated by a small number of Australians who mainly stayed in their camp.
Many of the young Papua New Guinean men who served with Australian soldiers formed bonds of comradeship with them, something rarely possible before the war, in a land where the relationship at the time was one of “master” and “native”.
Older Papua New Guineans in some areas have knowledge of the Second World War through the stories of people who lived through it, notably in the provinces surrounding the Kokoda Track, the islands region, and the northern coast of PNG. Some of these people were children during the war years and are still living. For them, the shared wartime experience forms part of the positive way in which Australia is still perceived, in some cases despite the later conditions of colonial rule.
For many years, although less and less, Anzac Day has been commemorated at small cenotaphs and memorials around the country, and in a large ceremony at Bomana, outside Port Moresby, by expatriates and Papua New Guineans who took part in the war. Papua New Guineans who fought the Japanese would proudly roll out and march or take part in ceremonies, sometimes travelling long distances from their home villages.
Sargeant Major Rayman, a New Ireland native, served with the Coastwatchers in the south-west Pacific (Photo: Australian War Memorial) PNG also has its own annual day for commemorating those killed in war, National Remembrance Day, held on 23 July.
In Australia, some of the stories of the wasman have been kept alive, mostly in private accounts by Australians who owed the success of their operations – and their lives – to the local knowledge, skill, and courage of their PNG comrades. These accounts were mostly written soon after the war.
Few in Australia would be aware of these stories today. The Australian emphasis on the Kokoda Track campaign means that far more people are likely to know about the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.
In PNG, knowledge of the wasman is largely restricted to those older people who knew them when they were young or saw them on Anzac Day, wearing their medals if they had them. Younger Papua New Guineans are hardly aware of what their forebears did during the war, but it is a history all Papua New Guineans should not only know, but of which they should be proud.
Many memorials and cemeteries from the era, apart from those tended by the Office of Australian War Graves, have fallen into disrepair or become overgrown, to varying degrees according to their remoteness from central administration. Well-attended commemorative activities and sites which are taken care of are likely to be close to central administration, and unfamiliar to people distant from these places. As a result, commemoration of the service and sacrifice of Papua New Guineans during the war based on war graves, memorials, museums, or interpretive centres is out of reach for most of the population. With probably all of the wasman now passed and only a few older people still alive who lived through the war, knowledge of this legacy of shared history of Australia and PNG is disappearing fast.
The Cenotaph in Kavieng, New Ireland (Photo: Paul Slater) Like many things in PNG, where personal relationships carry so much weight, sustaining this legacy needs a different approach, a more personal one. Things often do not go to plan, and it is difficult to know what will work and what will not. One thing is certain, though: many Papua New Guineans love a good story, because stories are personal. The story of the wasman is a great story. And because it is about both our cultures, it reinforces positive perceptions of Australia’s history in PNG.
The key to preserving the legacy may lie in schools, by telling the story through the voices of both Australian and PNG historical characters, in English and Tok Pisin. The effort could be supplemented with teaching at both Primary and Secondary levels, with links to the Australian curriculum, and a focus on how our two peoples worked together for success.
This should not be a bald exercise in promoting Australian interests. Those interests would be well served by helping PNG honestly tell its own stories, from a PNG perspective. They may have been told locally by those who took part, but usually only in the oral tradition – they have seldom been written down. The written historical resources, those on which an educational legacy could be based, are mostly in Australia in the National Archives, the Australian War Memorial, and in personal accounts by Australians, who in telling their own stories also told those of their PNG comrades.
Time is limited, but the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War is an opportunity to give those stories a PNG voice, to ensure they outlast the living memory of the war.
Cemeteries away from central administration have become overgrown (Photo: Paul Slater) Some former wasman went on to become successful in administration and government, while others languished, perhaps wondering where the camaraderie they had shared with Australians went after the Japanese were gone. For any of these men, their experiences would likely have shaped the rest of their lives, just as they did for their Australian counterparts. That is why, for as long as they could, they still travelled long distances to attend Anzac Day ceremonies in centres remote from their villages.
Their positive experience was not always replaced with a positive experience of Australian administration following the war, when the undeniably racist colonial rule, sometimes benevolent, sometimes not, reverted to its previous mode of “master” and “native”.
These historical contradictions persist today, 44 years after PNG’s independence. At the government level, Australia’s ability to manage the relationship is tainted by developed-versus-developing-country problems. Australia’s current lack of knowledge and understanding of the people, geography, and culture of our nearest neighbour means that PNG is more foreign to us than Southeast Asia or the Middle East. Our attempts at engagement are sometimes awkward, fraught, and characterised by poor, confusing, and 180-degree decision-making.
Australia is working to fix this through the Pacific “step up”. To some degree, this effort will be seen in PNG through the lens of Chinese expansion, and there will be a sneaking (and partly correct) suspicion that this is the motive. Therefore, we need to show we are not just trying hard, but genuinely interested, on a cultural and personal level, in a place where everything is intensely personal. What better place to start than with lessons from the past, when we worked so well together?
It will only work if we both know what happened.
A lonely unmarked cross on Nago Island near Kavieng, where Coastwatchers were executed by the Japanese (Photo: Paul Slater) Australia’s colonial army
Papua New Guineans have a long history of involvement in the Australian military. The first PNG soldiers were recruited by Australians immediately before Japan entered World War Two. They eventually formed five battalions of the Pacific Islands Regiment, or PIR.
The iconic image of ‘fuzzy wuzzy angel’ Raphael Oimbari escorting wounded Australian soldier Dick Whittington. George Silk/Australian War Memorial Despite active service throughout New Guinea during the war, the PIR was disbanded in 1947 by Australian authorities as a result of fears of “arming the natives”. It was raised again four years later as the Cold War threatened to turn hot.
During the 1950s the 600-man regiment had much in common with other “colonial armies” in its segregation and the assumptions about the inherent capabilities of PNG troops. Only Australian officers were considered capable of command, as PNG troops were seen as not yet up to the task of modern warfare.
The racially based differences were most starkly represented in unequal pay and conditions for the soldiers. Papua New Guineans, for instance, were not issued with boots or shirts.
The lower wages and poor conditions made the PIR an inexpensive addition to Australia’s defence. But, for Papua New Guineans, the army offered relatively high pay and social status. There was never a shortage of willing volunteers.
PNG soldiers represented a real contribution to Australia’s defence when the entire regular infantry force during the 1950s consisted of just three other battalions.
'It was a real labour of love'
Ramale, New Britain, 14 September 1945. Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or F.M.I. Sisters, who risked their lives to deliver food to missionaries and civilian detainees held captive for three and a half years in New Britain during the Second World War.
When the Japanese invaded Rabaul on New Britain in January 1942, a group of 45 F.M.I. Sisters refused to give up their faith. Instead, they risked their lives to help save hundreds of Australian and European missionaries and civilian detainees who were held captive by the Japanese for three and a half years, first at Vunapope and then in the dense jungle of Ramale.
More than 75 years later, Lisa Hilli, an Australian artist of Gunatuna (Tolai) heritage, discovered their little-known story while researching Australia and Papua New Guinea’s shared war history as part of a creative commission for the Australian War Memorial, supported by the Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund.
It was while she was researching in Rabaul that she first learned of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or F.M.I. Sisters, of the Vunapope Catholic Mission. These remarkable Tolai, Bainings and New Guinea Islands women had helped to save the lives of hundreds of men, women and children in New Britain during the Second World War.
Ramale, New Britain, 16 September 1945. View looking down on the mission, the home of 300 internees, mostly Catholic Missionaries.
“Vunapope in my language of Kuanua means place of the Pope,” she said. “It was a Catholic mission, which was established by European missionaries, so a lot of European and Australian missionaries were based there from the late 1800s. When Japan invaded Rabaul in 1942, a lot of the Australians were evacuated, but the ones who stayed behind evacuated to Vunapope, and so Vunapope became this refuge, or safe haven, for a few months.”
Vunapope was eventually taken by force by the Japanese, and in October 1942, the Japanese set up an internment camp to hold the Europeans, Australians and mixed-race children.
“It was only due to the courageous acts and efforts of Bishop Leo Scharmach that their lives were spared at all,” Lisa said. “He was Polish, but he managed to convince the Japanese that he was German and they should spare the lives of the missionaries and the mixed-race children who were there at Vunapope.”
Ramale, New Britian, 16 September 1945. Bishop Leo Scharmach, pictured on the left, wearing a white hat and glasses. The Bishop convinced the Japanese he was German and helped save the lives of the men, women, and children who were interned at Vunapope and then Ramale.
The bishop is said to have told the Japanese he was the Adolf Hitler’s representative in New Guinea and that they had to respect his status and those under his care.
At about this time, the Japanese declared that the Indigenous people of New Britain, including the F.M.I. Sisters based at Vunapope, were ‘free’.
“When the Japanese invaded the then Australian territory of Papua and New Guinea, they ‘liberated’ all the Papua New Guineans and held all the Australians and Europeans captive,” Lisa said.
“The Japanese said, ‘You’re free you don’t have to worship your western masters’ religion anymore’ … but the F.M.I. Sisters were completely loyal to their faith, and to their religion, and to their service to the Catholic missionaries.
“The F.M.I. Sisters basically risked their own lives and provided food for the Catholic missionaries and for the Australians and Europeans whilst they were held at Vunapope. They refused to give up their faith.”
Vunapope, New Britain, 16 September 1945. Japanese naval guards at Vunapope Mission watching the Australian party come in for the evacuation of Catholic Sisters and Priests from the Ramale Valley internment camp.
When Vunapope was destroyed during the Allied counter-offensive in June 1944, the Japanese marched 300 men, women and children six kilometres away into the dense jungle valley of Ramale.
The internees represented 17 different nationalities and came from countries such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, America, Canada, Britain and Australia.
Despite Japanese efforts to stop the F.M.I Sisters from engaging and practising Christianity with the Australian and European Sisters, the women continued to devote themselves to God. They were determined to help keep the Australian and European missionaries alive by growing and harvesting fresh produce and delivering heavy baskets of it over gruelling distances, up and down a steep incline.
Ramale, New Britain, 16 September 1945. After the internees were liberated, food was brought from Rabaul and carried downhill to the camp. The F.M.I. Sisters had risked their lives carrying baskets of fresh produce through grueling conditions to help keep the 300 Australian and European internees alive during the war .
“They disobeyed the Japanese, and they stayed true to their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, even in war,” Lisa said.
“They started building gardens and growing food, and every day they would bring heavy bags of fresh produce, carrying them on their heads.
“The Japanese would stand guard at the top of the valley, and inspect the food to make sure they weren’t smuggling anything else in.
“They would then take the best of the food, and the Sisters would walk back down into the valley and give the rest of the food to the prisoners of war. And they did that every day.”
Ramale Valley, New Britain, 14 September 1945. A choir comprised of the internees at Ramale Valley Internment Camp singing for Major General K.W. Eather, General Officer Commanding 11 Division.
Ramale Valley, New Britain. Some of the inmates at the Ramale Valley Internment Camp. Contact with the camp was made by Allied troops and representatives of the Australian Red Cross following the surrender of the Japanese. The internees had to wait for several months in Ramale Valley until suitable buildings were prepared for them. Vunapope Mission had been razed to the ground.
The Ramale camp was liberated by Australian troops on 14 September 1945 when troops of HQ 11 Division occupied the area following the surrender of the Japanese.
“It’s an amazing story, and it’s been sitting there for 75 years, just waiting to be found,” Lisa said. “The F.M.I. Sisters kept them alive essentially, but no one had really looked at them, and honoured them for it.”
Lisa has since created an artwork in recognition of their strength, labour, and dedication. To complete the work, she relied heavily on a draft 100-year history from Sister Margaret Maladede at Vunapope and research at the National Library of Australia and the Memorial. The resulting artwork features a large digital photographic collage of an image of the Sisters from the Memorial’s collection and a series of 45 hand-embroidered cotton cinctures, or religious belts worn by the nuns.
Ramale, New Britain, 2 October 1945: Former internees singing Ramale Greets You at a concert staged as thanksgiving for the liberation of the camp. Personnel of the 11 Division attended.
Bitagalip, Ramale Mission, New Britain. The Mission Choir practising for Christmas festivities in December 1945.
“For me, it was really significant, and I felt really honoured to be asked [to complete this commission],” Lisa said.
“I was actually born at Vunapope, and the more I researched into the history of these Sisters, the more it revealed to me the significance of that place, and made me feel really connected to it.
“Their convent is in the lands that I’m from, and the year that the F.M.I. Sisters became their own independent Indigenous-led convent was the year of my birth – 1979 – so throughout the commission there were all these beautiful layers of connection for me.
Ramale Valley, New Britain. A group of Sisters waving as they prepare to move out of the Ramale Valley Internment Camp.
Sisters and Priests boarding an Army barge for transfer to the motor launch Gloria. They are being evacuated from Ramale Valley to Rabaul.
“Military history from the Second World War is everywhere in Rabaul it’s just evident everywhere you go.
“I remember my mother always told me that during the war my grandmother … would lie flat on the ground whenever the planes would fly over and pretend that she was dead. That was my only real understanding of the war in my homelands and how that impacted my family.
“Rabaul was largely a war from the air, and when the Japanese flew in, they dropped bombs everywhere, and I remember thinking about the fear that my grandmother would have felt.
“Then when I found an image of the F.M.I. Sisters in the Memorial archives, taken on the day the Australian troops came in and liberated the camp, I couldn’t believe it.
Artist Lisa Hilli paid tribute to the women through her art, creating a large digital photographic collage of an image of the Sisters from the Memorial's collection and 45 hand-embroidered cinctures.
Ramale Valley, 2018. Artist Lisa Hilli visited the site of the camp as part of her research. Photo: Lisa Hilli
“It was so hard to find any information about them. This is the problem when it comes to archival records about black or Indigenous people their records aren’t always there, so I had to dig really deep into the archives to find anything about them.
“It’s an incredible story and it’s really important for me to be able to share Papua New Guinean women’s stories, particularly related to war, because women’s stories aren’t always told, particularly in war or the military, and then you add another level of being black or Papua New Guinean, and it’s like, good luck. So to find this, and to be able to highlight it, and reveal it, was just really special.
“It’s a legacy for my own people, so it’s really significant for me to be able to do that.”
The watercolour flowers in the artwork were carefully selected to represent the different nationalities of the men, women and children who were held captive at Ramale. The Sister in the middle is holding a sprig of wattle, a reference to Australia and to the Australian soldiers who liberated the camp.
A detail of the stitching on the cinctures. There are 45 cinctures to represent each of the 45 Sisters.Photo: Lisa Hilli
For her artwork, Lisa adorned the Sisters with flowers in reference to the different nationalities of the men, women and children who were held captive at Ramale. There’s the iris to represent the French, the poppy to represent the Belgians, the cornflower to represent the Germans, and a Korean hibiscus to honour the South Korean comfort women that were brought over by the Japanese. The wattle in the middle is a reference to Australia and to the Australian soldiers who liberated the camp at Ramale, while the 45 hand-embroidered cinctures represent each of the individual F.M.I. Sisters.
“Only 12 or 13 of these women were photographed, but there were 45 of them, so I wanted to make sure that they were all recognised and honoured,” she said.
“I was really interested in the Sisters’ habit as an item of clothing that signified the practice of their faith. The black cincture they tied around their waist was a very distinct item of the habit that was worn only at the time. They don’t wear it today, and so I kept coming back to it as a really significant piece of clothing from that war history period.”
