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You are here: Home / On This Day / On This Day - 1939

On This Day

1939 > WW2

On This Day - 1939

June 4, 1940

LEUT R. J. Robertson, RAN, was awarded the DSC and MID for conspicuous gallantry while serving in HMS MALCOLM, (destroyer), at the evacuation of Dunkirk, and in operations off the Dutch and Belgian coasts.

December 31, 1939

CMDR S. H. K. Spurgeon, RAN, was awarded the DSO for conspicuous service in anti-submarine operations while commanding HMS ECHO, (destroyer), in the North Sea. CMDR Spurgeon was the first Australian decorated for gallantry in WWII.

December 25, 1939

HMAS STUART, (destroyer), was battling heavy seas off Corsica. Christmas fare was a piece of cake and a glass of beer.

Christmas Day on HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), was heralded by the playing of the hymn ‘Christians Awake’ over the ship’s PA system. The menu for Christmas dinner was:- soup, roast turkey, York ham with French beans, green peas, roast and boiled potatoes, Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, fresh fruit and nuts.

December 22, 1939

HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), attempted to tow the British merchant ship HOUSTON CITY off rocks, near Plum Point Lighthouse, Jamaica. The line parted and the tow was abandoned. The ship was floated clear on the next high tide.

December 21, 1939

A cartoon in the Australian magazine, The Bulletin, depicted a cruiser with a badly crumpled stern passing the flagship, and the Admiral turning to the Flag Captain:- ‘Send for her Captain Prendercast. I’ll teach him to play boomps a daisy’.

The cartoon alluded to HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), colliding with a wharf at Fremantle some weeks previously.

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