Four Brothers in the Pacific War

By Chris Pratt

Dave, Ray, Morris and Alex Rohrlach were Australian Lutherans of German descent who served in the Australian Army and Navy in the Pacific during World War Two.

In a fascinating biography of the brothers, Chris Pratt chronicles the events of their lives before, during, and in the aftermath of war. Dave, a Lutheran missionary in New Guinea, captained his mission schooner to rescue defeated Australian soldiers from New Britain in the opening months of the war. Ray served in a motorised infantry unit before enduring a year in an isolated malarial outpost in Dutch New Guinea. Morris struggled through two amphibious landings in Japanese occupied Borneo. Alex survived kamikaze attacks and a battle with a Japanese fleet in the Philippines to witness from an Australian heavy cruiser the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. Included are historical maps and photographs provided by the family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Feb 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781982293710

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 Chris Pratt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com.au

AU TFN: 1 800 844 925 (Toll Free inside Australia)

AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9370-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9371-0 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/15/2022

CONTENTS

Maps

Map 1 Victoria and Southern New South Wales

Map 2 New South Wales

Map 3 Queensland

Map 4 New Guinea and New Britain

Map 5 North Part of South West Pacific

Preface

Dave Rohrlach – Rabaul March 1942

Ray Rohrlach - Merauke February 1944

Alex Rohrlach - Surigao Strait October 1944

Morris Rohrlach - Balikpapan June 1945

Chapter 1 Before World War 2

Dave

Mission Skipper

Dave and Clara Marry

Itinerant Ray

Alex Leaves for Melbourne

Postman Morris

Chapter 2 War in Europe

Europe and the Japanese Threat

Alex Called Up

Ray Follows Alex

Alex At Balcombe

Ray’s Training

Morris Conscripted

Dave and Clara in New Guinea

Chapter 3 War in the Pacific

Pearl Harbour

Clara Evacuated

Call Up In Victoria

Dave In The Deep End

Shrinking Mission

Conscripted

Ready For Rabaul

Rabaul Rescue

Escape to Australia

Reunion

Historical Note: Dave’s Enlistment

Chapter 4 Early 1942

Alex At School

Ray’s Training

Gunner Morris

Dave In Hospital

Historical Note: Resolving Conflicting Dates

Chapter 5 Late 1942

Alex in the AASC

Ray and 20 Australian Motor Regiment

Puckapunyal

Greta

Narrabri

Wallgrove

Morris and 22 Field Regiment

Dave at Bonegilla

Australian Special Wireless Group

Opportunity for Discharge

Promotion to Sergeant

Back to Private

Bonegilla and Walla Walla

Historical Fiction: Day In The Life

Chapter 6 Queensland 1943

Militia and AIF

Map 6 South West Pacific Area

Ray and 20 Australian Motor Regiment

Home Leave

Wallgrove

Deploying to Queensland

Defending the Brisbane Line

Jungle Warfare

Dave Summoned North

Bonegilla

Gas Training

Departing Bonegilla

Allied Geographic Section

Early Days

Family Reunited

Promotion to Sergeant

Tatura Internment Camp

Creating A Home

Alex Joins The Navy

Queensland

Sick Of The Army

Navy Training

Morris at Holsworthy

44 Battery

Hospital

Historical Note: Determining Dates

Chapter 7 Leaving Australia 1944

Ray In Dutch New Guinea

Packing Up

Merauke

Voyage to Merauke

Dismal Merauke

Alex at Action Stations

HMAS Penguin

HMAS Stuart

HMAS Shropshire

Sailing North

Aitape

Morotai

Leyte Gulf

Battle of Surigao Strait

Kamikaze

Leaving Leyte

Seeadler Harbour

Wartime Christmas

Ready for Corregidor

Historical Note: Check Your Sources

Morris

1st Australian Naval Bombardment Group

Atherton Tablelands

Aitape

Dave Remains in Brisbane

Allied Geographical Section

Badly Scalded

With The Navy

Chapter 8 Final Battles

Ray’s War Stutters To Its End

Merauke

Back in Australia

Morris

British Pacific Fleet

Return to Atherton Tablelands

Brothers Cross Tracks

Alex’s Close Calls

More Kamikazes

Lingayen Gulf

Corregidor

Waiting in Lingayen Gulf

Going Home

Sydney

Alex On Leave

Alex and Violet Marry

Shropshire’s Refit

Return to Battle

Morris Leaves for Balikpapan

Morris Embarks for Morotai

Morotai

On To Balikpapan

Historical Fiction: Aboard HMAS Kanimbla

Morris and Alex At Balikpapan

Alex Sails for Balikpapan

Morris Lands

Alex at Balikpapan

Morris Ashore at Balikpapan

Landing at Penadjam

Birthday Greetings

Shropshire and the Japanese Surrender

Morris Leaves Balikpapan

Morris And The Surrender

Historical Note: Locating Morris at Balikpapan

Chapter 9 Demobilisation

Dave Seeks Early Discharge

Discharge Before War’s End

Re-Establishing Lutheran Missions

Waiting For Discharge

Discharged

Return To The Mission

Alex Sails Home

Tokyo Bay

Going Home

Discharge

After the War

Morris

Ordnance Corps

Japanese on Morotai

Living on Morotai

Christmas 1945

Sailing Home

Hanging Around

Malaria and Marriage

Frustratingly Slow Discharge

After Demobilisation

Ray – The Last To Leave

Struggle to Regain Health

2 Army Salvage and Rubber Depot

Demobilisation

After The War

Chapter 10 Suspicions of Disloyalty

Lutherans in Australia

History

Outbreak of War

Lutherans in New Guinea

Nazi Influence

Internments

Japan Enters The War

Allied Geographical Section and Tatura

Brisbane

Tatura

Return to New Guinea

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Australian Military Organisation

Appendix B: Royal Australian Navy in World War 2

Appendix C: Money and Prices

Money

Denominations

Pronunciations

Glossary

Sources

Primary Sources – Family

Primary Sources – Other

Secondary Sources

… my sister Daisy told me mother said to her,

"Four of the boys are in the services …

I wonder which ones won’t come back?"

Alex Rohrlach

MAPS

Map 1 Victoria and Southern New South Wales

Image35692.PNG

Map from https://www.d-maps.com/pays.php?num_pay=1195&lang=en

Map 2 New South Wales

Image35700.PNG

Map from https://www.d-maps.com/pays.php?num_pay=1181&lang=en

Map 3 Queensland

Image35707.PNG

Map from https://www.d-maps.com/pays.php?num_pay=1189&lang=en

Map 4 New Guinea and New Britain

Image35715.PNG

Map from https://www.d-maps.com/pays.php?num_pay=286&lang=en

Map 5 North Part of South West Pacific

Image35726.PNG

Map from Google Earth. Copyright remains with Google Earth.

PREFACE

This is the story of four Rohrlach brothers who went to war.

It had its origin when Anthony Rohrlach, my son Ian, my nephew Ross and I were preparing for a trek along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. Anthony told me of uncles who had fought in New Guinea in World War 2 and had been involved in battles along the Track.

I delved lightly into the matter, and found that the Rohrlach uncles had not in fact fought on the Kokoda Track. Exploring their role in World War 2 involved many years of exploration of family and World War 2 history.

The people in this story are real, and the events explored are matters of historical record. However, gaps in the records are huge and the historical records don’t always agree. Discrepancies have been resolved where possible and explained if not, and gaps have been filled with informed historical imagination to complete the narrative.

This book is set in the Great Depression and World War 2. Some descriptions of indigenous peoples and the Japanese, as well as some recounting of events from the perspective of the time, would now be considered derogatory or inappropriate.

Abbreviated footnotes on each page identify the historical sources consulted so that readers can assess for themselves the quality of the story. More complete details of sources are available at the end of this book.

Chris Pratt

December 2021

Image35734.JPG

Dave Rohrlach at Maneba Harbour in New Guinea, probably in 1934. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

DAVE ROHRLACH – RABAUL MARCH 1942

Dave slapped absent-mindedly at an insect as he peered anxiously through the mangroves at the patch of cloudy sky. Deciding he had imagined the droning of an aircraft, he glanced around the deck of the schooner Bavaria. She was blotched with hastily-applied improvised camouflage paint instead of her smart peacetime white and blue, and the usually tidy rigging was adorned with mangrove branches. It wasn’t much, but it might hide them if a Jap plane chanced by.

The Japs were the only people flying around out here these days.

Of course, if the Japs did discover them, they were finished. The Army had issued him with a World War One Lee Enfield .303 rifle when he ‘volunteered’ a month ago, and there was a case of grenades aboard, but they wouldn’t be any use against a fighter armed with who knew how many machine guns.

Dave always unloaded food and personal belongings when they moored, just in case they were spotted. Hopefully the native boys would be able to scramble away and make their way back to the Mission at Finschhafen. After all, not all of them had volunteered for this.

He turned away. It was hot and steamy, but he needed to catch whatever sleep he could. They’d push on tonight. Those diggers who’d escaped the Japs at Rabaul would be pretty desperate, and there were probably a few missionaries and planters who needed help too.

He offered a brief prayer for Clara and the kids. They were well away, but he wished that he’d had more news from Clara in Australia before he’d sailed from the Finschhafen Mission.

Goodness knew when he would see them again, if ever.

Image35742.PNG

Ray Rohrlach at the family home ‘Iola’ at Walla Walla in September 1942. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

RAY ROHRLACH - MERAUKE FEBRUARY 1944

Merauke was a dreadful place and in the middle of the wet season it was at its worst.

Ray had stumbled ashore early in February at this most isolated outpost of Dutch New Guinea. He was sodden before he even left the wharf, burdened with pack, rifle, ammunition and kitbag, straps chafing his shoulders.

Beyond the muddy base area, Merauke was just one vast swamp, cut with countless streams and creeks and muddy ponds, and infested with crocodiles and every form of biting, irritating insect.

He was at work within a day.

Ray was pretty fit after years in the Army, but the physical labour of digging defences in that temperature and humidity was exhausting. Clothing never dried, bedding was always damp, rifles sprouted patches of rust between morning and night, and everything was caked in clinging red mud. Boots were still wet when they were tugged on in the morning over damp woollen socks; everyone began to develop tinea.

And the continual maddening attack of the mosquitoes could send a man ‘troppo’.

Too many of the mosquitoes carried malaria. Shirts were worn with sleeves rolled down to reduce bites, even during heavy labour, and men suffered. It didn’t take long for skin to develop ringworm or dermatitis.

Ray’s dermatitis became awful, an inflammation in the skin, with rashes and an itchiness that could drive him mad. But everyone suffered and only the worst would be sent to hospital.

Ray wasn’t that bad – yet.

Image35749.JPG

Studio photograph taken in Sydney probably early

in 1944. (Photograph taken at Sidney Riley Studios

Sydney and supplied by Rohrlach Family)

ALEX ROHRLACH - SURIGAO STRAIT OCTOBER 1944

Alex jerked awake. He knew exactly where he was, but didn’t know what had woken him. The sailor slumped against him on the left snuffled but didn’t stir. Alex straightened himself slightly and shifted his buttocks to relieve the numbness, but he stayed sitting with his back leaning into a corner, in the same position as when he woke.

The gloom was hot and thick with the smell of sweat and oil and stale food and men packed closely together. The steady throbbing through the deck that was so much part of his life was a little faster than usual, but it had been that way when he nodded off. There was a cough, and a rattle as someone shifted position and a torch fell onto the deck.

He groped for his water bottle and sluiced the lukewarm water around his gummy lips and mouth. His last meal was a lump in his stomach, although goodness knows he had eaten little enough.

Carefully re-corking the bottle, he wriggled to find a spot on his body not already aching or sore or numb from the steel deck. Despite that, he was soon dozing fitfully….

The alarm gong’s penetrating clangour snapped everyone into consciousness, and battle lights banished gloom to the furthest corners as the shell room crew leapt without orders or hesitation or confusion to their positions.

Semi Armour Piercing Load! came clearly and calmly from the speakers, and instantly a shell from the turret ring clanked, slammed and rattled its way up to the gun turret several decks above. Alex and his mate leapt to the shell bin, swinging the grab onto another shell to replace the one that had just left.

As the engine throbbing came faster, HMAS Shropshire heeled slightly into a turn, and the turret ring whined and whirred as the guns trained on their target. Alex realised without particular emotion that they had closed with the Japanese battle fleet.

Image35756.PNG

Morris Rohrlach, probably late 1942 or very early 1943. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

MORRIS ROHRLACH - BALIKPAPAN JUNE 1945

Morris swung with practised ease over the rail of the troopship Kanimbla, feeling for footholds in the cargo net secured to the landing craft heaving and tossing below.

Nothing was slung across his body; even his .303 rifle was on one shoulder so that he could quickly discard it if he fell into the water. He wore a small flotation device, but if he fell onto the landing craft surging and slamming below him, the best he could hope for were broken bones on its hard steel edges. If he fell between the landing craft and Kanimbla he would be crushed.

The jerking cargo net’s lower end was lashed to the landing craft, rising and dipping unevenly in the swell. Morris moved smartly to ensure the man above didn’t crush his hands, but he didn’t want to tread on the hands of the man underneath. His pack was pulling him backwards and away from the net, and his .303 rifle swung awkwardly.

He breathed a sigh of relief as his boots found the steel deck of the landing craft. He steadied himself and turned to help the soldier following him. With the last man on board, the cargo net was cast off and the landing craft roared away to join others in the holding pattern off Kanimbla’s bow.

As the landing craft thumped and lurched and rolled its way towards the landing beach, Morris and his mates peered at the shore with some interest and a little anxiety; the uneasy feeling in the guts wasn’t just the lively motion of the landing craft. Deep black clouds from burning oil tanks cast shadows onto the dust and smoke of the naval bombardment. Naval shells still rumbled overhead. Rifle and machine gun fire could be heard above the steady thrum of the landing craft engines and the thump of waves against the bow ramp.

The landing craft coxswain bellowed a warning. Morris and his mates buckled their equipment securely, and braced themselves; some beachings could be abrupt. As the landing craft lurched to a halt and the ramp slammed down into the shallow water, Morris moved smartly down the ramp into knee-deep water, rifle ready.

Image40634.JPG

CHAPTER ONE

Before World War 2

L utherans arrived in South Australia in 1838, escaping religious persecution in Europe.

In 1869 about sixty German Lutherans trekked from South Australia, where new good farming land was becoming scarce, and settled in the cheaper and more abundant farming land around what became the small town of Walla Walla in Southern New South Wales, about forty kilometres North of Albury.

Walla Walla became part of the Shire of Culcairn. In the 1933 Census, the Shire and nearby areas had a population of 1621 people, and 1084 of those were Lutheran.¹

Among those Lutherans was the devoutly Lutheran family of Emil Bernhardt and Elizabeth Mathilda Rohrlach and their eleven children. Their father was known universally as Ben. Four of Ben and Mathilda’s sons eventually went to war.

Those four Rohrlach brothers’ beliefs and values were anchored in their family’s values. The family in turn drew support from their strong Lutheran community. The brothers grew up in that cohesive community in the years during and after the upsets of the Great War² and through the hard grind of the Great Depression.

The Rohrlach family was Australian. Its firm adherence to the Lutheran Faith did not include loyalty to the Kirchenbund, the German Evangelical Church Confederation that included the Lutheran Church, or its successor, the German Evangelical Church. The Rohrlachs were Australian Lutherans rather than German Australians.³

It was not too surprising that many German citizens were interned as enemy aliens during the Great War. What was unfortunate was that the policy was sometimes expanded to include people of enemy nations who were naturalised British subjects, Australian-born descendants of migrants born in enemy nations.⁴

Even so, not everyone of German descent was interned. Some went to war in the Australian forces and an article in the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express stated that

the Germans of the Albury district were among the best citizens in the State.

The same article quoted a rabble-rousing state parliamentarian.

The name of the firm of Hermann Stockmann and Johanne Kleinig of Walla Walla and elsewhere, who held the Government chaff cutting contract, was sufficient to betray its nationality, and this preference to foreigners was going on while gases, liquid fire, and the killing of non-combatants were regarded by Germany as legitimate warfare.

The editor of the newspaper described that as a libel on the district.⁵

But with Germany portrayed as a vile and vicious enemy, the Great War was uncomfortable for Australians of German descent, especially Lutherans whose religion had deep German roots and a German language liturgy.⁶ ⁷

After all, to some Australians To be Lutheran was virtually synonymous with being German.⁸ Some Lutherans believed the same.

Even after the Great War there were calls to close Lutheran churches, as they were one of the chief sources of German propaganda.⁹

The brothers knew of the often unjust persecution suffered by Lutherans amid the hysteria of the Great War. They struggled through the punishing times of the Great Depression. They followed the rise of Hitler, and watched World War 2 approaching, hoping like most that it would never happen but fearing that it would. Through all of this, they remained Australian to their Lutheran cores.

There was no tradition of military service in the family. None of the brothers wanted to be soldiers. They were simply caught up in the war when it arrived.

Dave

The eldest Rohrlach child was Valentine David Rohrlach, known as Dave. He was born at home with a midwife in attendance, in Burrumbuttock, near Walla Walla in Southern New South Wales, on 21 October 1911.¹⁰ Dave sometimes stated he was born at Walla Walla,¹¹ but the difference is of little significance.¹²

Australia was at war with Germany a few years after Dave was born. As the oldest of the brothers, he was most aware later of the undercurrent of ill feeling towards those with German associations.

He completed his education at Walla Walla Primary School; like his younger brothers, he did not attend high school. He undertook a useful apprenticeship as a motor mechanic at Dave Lieschke’s garage in Walla Walla,¹³ but working as a motor mechanic did not satisfy Dave.

Image35894.PNG

Friends, family and relatives at Iola on the day David was commissioned by the Church for work in New Guinea. This was taken in the showground with the house of Iola¹⁴ behind. It was the Sunday prior to his departure for New Guinea. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

Mission Skipper

Dave acknowledged his Call to serve in the New Guinea Lutheran Missions in 1930, when the Lutheran Herald advertised for an assistant to a mission schooner captain.¹⁵ This was not a light decision: he was required to offer his services for life, and there were harrowing stories in the Lutheran Herald of deaths on mission service and of missionaries repatriated to Australia in broken health. The Great Depression prevented his taking up his Call until 1933, when he was commissioned as a lay missionary with the Australian Lutheran Mission at Finschhafen. There he worked as ship’s engineer and later skipper on the schooners and luggers operated by the Mission. ¹⁶ ¹⁷

The Australian Lutheran Mission was a large enterprise; at Madang and Finschhafen it is recorded as employing sixty-seven expatriates and more than nine hundred local people, keeping 2200 hectares under cultivation, and staffing twenty-seven hospitals and dispensaries.¹⁸ It was part of a larger group of missions established initially by the German Neuendettelsau Mission Society before the Great War. Dave was not isolated in the jungle with only a shack for shelter and locals for company.

Dave was a qualified mechanic but also a country boy whose sailing experience was limited to boating in the swamps around Walla Walla;¹⁹ his early writings record several bouts of seasickness.²⁰ Dave had to overcome that because he needed to qualify quickly as a ship’s master.

The captain was Harry Miers from Queensland, who died of tuberculosis only eight months after my arrival. For me to obtain my Masters Licence to replace the captain, our plantation manager, Adolph Obst, who was qualified, accompanied me on trips until I was granted this licence.²¹

Dave and Adolph Obst (known as Dolph) were jointly skippers of the MV Bavaria; Dolph also worked as Mission plantation manager.²² Les Schirmer became Dave’s engineer on the Bavaria.²³ Eduard Paul Helbig acted as occasional relief skipper. He worked in the missions from 1906 until 1942, when he was conscripted into the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR).²⁴ ²⁵ ²⁶

Pastor Harold Freund described Bavaria as a forty-five ton schooner.²⁷ On one occasion, Dave, engineer for eighteen months and one of her skippers for seven years, described her as the MV Bavaria, 72 tons displacement.²⁸ At another time, he described her as 45 registered tons.²⁹ A description of military vessels involved in the Rabaul rescue describes her as a launch of sixty tons.³⁰ Take your pick.

Bavaria was a schooner rather than the typical MV (motor vessel).³¹ Under sail or with her thudding three-cylinder diesel engine, she sailed along the treacherous coasts of New Guinea at a dignified eight knots.³² It was a good deal slower against a coastal current, or when faced with a storm. Dave rebuilt the Bavaria in 1934,³³ and again during 1938-1939.³⁴ He became quite attached to the old Bav.

Image35902.JPG

MV Bavaria, probably at Malolo in the 1930s. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

Dave sailed hundreds of miles of New Guinea coastline, making more than twenty-five trips yearly to Mission outstations.³⁵ Charts were poor or non-existent, and Dave’s perilously acquired local knowledge hugely influenced his war service. ³⁶

Image35909.JPG

Dave Rohrlach as skipper of the Lutheran Mission schooner Bavaria in the period leading up to the Japanese approach to New Guinea. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

Image35916.JPG

MV Bavaria 1933 (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

Dave and Clara Marry

Clara Elizabeth Pech was born on 8 December 1910, in Appila, South Australia. She qualified as a triple certificate nurse, each certificate recognising a different nursing speciality. Even decades later, a triple certificate nurse was special.

I can’t tell you how impressive being a triple certificated nurse was in 1980! In 1980 if a nurse had 3 certificates she was on the top of the pile! A triple-certificate nurse was a career nurse and an admired nurse! ³⁷

Like Dave, Clara was Called to missionary work. She provided medical care at Finschhafen, part of the extensive hospital and clinic network operated by the Lutheran Missions. With only about seventy expatriate missionaries in the Lutheran Missions at Finschhafen and Madang, it was hardly surprising that Dave and Clara met.

Lutheran missionaries were united in their service to God, but there were struggles for control of the New Guinea Missions between the German-based Neuendettelsau Mission Society, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia, and the American Lutheran Church.³⁸

Most New Guinea Lutheran missionaries and their families were from Germany or had been educated there, and preferred to converse in German even when others present could not. Clara was fluent, possibly because the Lutheran District in South Australia continued to use the German language liturgy. The Lutheran Church in New South Wales had adopted English for its liturgy and Dave had at best a basic working knowledge of German when he arrived in New Guinea. He could not initially follow all of the discussions. This practice of using German persisted even after World War 2.³⁹

There were also differences between ordained and lay missionaries, as Lester Rohrlach observed after the war.

Almost all of them were ordained people doing the prime work, us Aussies were mostly laymen, just helpers, suppliers, fixers.⁴⁰

Many Germans in the inter-war Missions were antipathetic to Britain;⁴¹ Finschhafen was a strong Nazi Party stronghold.⁴² Several ordained and lay missionaries were active Nazi party members, and Nazi ideology was pervasive across the Finschhafen Mission.⁴³ This alienated the Australian Lutherans, who were that strange mixture of British and Australian in loyalty.

It is therefore not too surprising that Dave and Clara found themselves drawn to each other. They were in their late twenties, with very similar outlooks on life, and part of a small but distinct group in the Mission.⁴⁴ Their engagement was announced in October 1937.⁴⁵ Clara had been in New Guinea for three years.⁴⁶

Dave’s mother arrived in Port Moresby from Sydney on the Machdhui⁴⁷ on 24 September 1938 to attend their wedding.⁴⁸ Her arrival was notified in the Pacific Islands Monthly, as was the wedding.⁴⁹ Dave’s best man was Les Schirmer, Dave’s engineer and a friend from Walla Walla; he captained Bavaria while Dave and Clara were in Australia in 1938 and 1939.⁵⁰

Image35926.JPG

Dave married his sweetheart Nurse Clara Pech at Finschhafen. Behind Clara is the best man Engineer Les Schirmer and at Dave’s right is his mother, up from Walla Walla for the event. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

Accompanied by Clara, Dave’s mother returned to Sydney on the Macdhui on 6 December 1938; Dave followed in time for Christmas. Both Dave and Clara were on the customary six months furlough following extended service in New Guinea, and this became a belated honeymoon. ⁵¹ ⁵² They spent time at Walla Walla and at Clara’s family home at Appila.

Brother D Rohrlach and wife were reported in the Lutheran Herald to have returned to the Mission in July 1939.⁵³ Clara was six months pregnant.⁵⁴ She eventually gave birth to two children in New Guinea. Lester John Rohrlach was born in Finschhafen on 23 October 1939. Eleanor Regina Rohrlach was also born in Finschhafen, on 25 August 1941.⁵⁵ It was an isolated place to give birth, but Missions provided the best medical care in New Guinea.

Itinerant Ray

The next eldest child in the large Rohrlach family at Walla Walla was Percy Raymond Rohrlach, known as Ray.⁵⁶ He was born nearly two years after Dave, on 17 August 1913, at Glenellen in New South Wales. There was no hospital at Glenellen, so it is likely that his was also a home birth.

Like Dave’s birthplace of Burrumbuttock, Glenellen was near Walla Walla.⁵⁷ Like Dave and his younger brothers, Ray spent his youth close to where he was born and christened, developing that steadiness, sense of responsibility and work ethic that characterised the four brothers. He attended the Walla Walla Public School; his elder brother Dave was already there, and his younger siblings followed.

It wasn’t unusual for children in country areas to finish their education at about twelve years of age, before it was strictly legal: they were expected to work on the family farm. The Rohrlach Family respected education, but extended formal schooling was not for the likes of Ray and his brothers. In 1927, as was common for both boys and girls in both country and city,⁵⁸ Ray left school at the earliest legal age of fourteen.⁵⁹ ⁶⁰

Ray contributed to family finances by working in an office for nearly two years for the princely sum of two shillings and sixpence per week. Junior wages were abysmally low. The average wage in Victoria in 1926 was £4/19/6, although the average wage for agricultural workers was less.⁶¹ Expressed in modern currency, Ray was earning twenty-five cents per week when average adult wages were nearly ten dollars.⁶² By the end of 1929 or the beginning of 1930, Ray started work at Mackie Brothers Emporium in Commercial Street, the main street of Walla Walla. Ray’s father Ben made daily deliveries to farmers in the surrounding district for that well-established general store.⁶³ Ben also worked as a storeman and occasional counter salesman.⁶⁴

Ray was fortunate to have any job. The Great Depression struck hard. Unemployment in Australia averaged just under 25% between 1930 and 1934.⁶⁵ It had peaked briefly at 30% in 1932 – nearly one in three had been out of work.⁶⁶ Ray worked for Mackie Brothers for seven years.⁶⁷ He lived at home on the ten acres of Iola, Walla Walla, NSW, which remained his formal home address through the 1930s and early 1940s.⁶⁸

In about 1936, for reasons now unknown, Ray sought other work,⁶⁹ finding it wherever he could, sometimes with younger brother Alex. They worked on farms fruit picking, growing tomatoes, clearing scrub and bracken fern, cutting timber, and digging out rabbits. Digging out rabbits removed agricultural pests, provided meat for family and market, and the skins were treated for sale.⁷⁰ ⁷¹ Ray and his brothers may eventually have worn the result: rabbit fur was used to manufacture the ‘Hat, Khaki, Fur Felt’ – the slouch hat that was a trademark of the Australian soldier. Ray at some stage acquired a public weighman’s licence, and was employed at public weighbridges weighing wheat, or motorcars for registration.⁷²

Image35936.PNG

Dave, on the right, with his brothers and sisters in 1932, shortly before leaving for New Guinea. Ray is second from the right in the back row (not counting the baby), and was working for Mackie Brothers in Walla Walla. Alex is on the left of the back row, and Morris on the right of the front row. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

These experiences tell something of Ray’s character. Despite his slight build, he wasn’t afraid of hard work. In addition, the Weights and Measures Act stipulated that a weighman’s licence could be issued only to persons of good character, with stiff penalties for misconduct by weighmen.

Family history tells that Ray also held a job as a porter at the Albury Railway Station.⁷³ New South Wales and Victorian trains rattled along different railway gauges, and passengers and goods changed trains where the gauges met at the state border at Albury.

Ray was in the habit of leaving his Norton motorbike,⁷⁴ probably with a sidecar,⁷⁵ with his Uncle Paul and Aunt Martha in Albury when he worked as a porter. Ray must have been frugal to buy and operate a Norton motorcycle during the hard Depression years.

Most of these jobs kept Ray fairly close to home, but he moved finally to Melbourne with Alex to work in factories that included a spinning mill, and the Hardie’s asbestos factory.⁷⁶ Ray then returned to the grocery trade he had learned at Mackie Bros, working at a grocery store that he managed by the time he was called up during World War 2.⁷⁷

Alex Leaves for Melbourne

Two sisters, Daisy Alma and Alice Eileen, were born after Ray and before Alexander Harold Rohrlach, born on 6 July 1919. The place of birth was Culcairn, New South Wales. Culcairn Hospital was receiving patients by February 1919 and it is possible that he was delivered there.

Like his brothers, Alex acquired a driver’s licence. It wasn’t that common in the pre-war years, and would influence his early war service. Ross Rohrlach recalled that

I know that when I was age 6 and 7, in school holidays he [Ben] let me drive the truck home after the last delivery. I could just reach the accelerator, clutch and brake, while he sometimes helped me to change the gears.⁷⁸

That was how most country kids learned to drive.

Image35948.PNG

Ben Rohrlach and the Mackies Brothers delivery lorry, with a selection of children on the running board. (Photograph from Rohrlach Family)

During the Depression Alex and Ray picked fruit at Shepparton, lumber jacked at Apollo Bay, and worked many other jobs on farms and in factories – anything to earn a quid.⁷⁹ Some of that work was near Alma Park, where Alex met his future wife, Violet Mueller.⁸⁰ Alex eventually moved to Melbourne with Ray, and both worked at Hardie’s asbestos factory; they had no idea how dangerous that was.⁸¹ They were among the lucky ones; the former Hardie’s asbestos factory at Sunshine North was still in the news in 2014 as an environmental hazard.⁸² Work became easier to find as the Great Depression eased, and Alex later worked the night shift at Kinnear’s rope factory.

Lester Rohrlach believed that Alex lived at a boarding house, probably the Corboys, a family familiar to Alex and Ray.⁸³ ⁸⁴ Alex’s enlistment documents show he lived at 110 Ballarat Road Footscray when he was conscripted.⁸⁵ The house at that address now is probably the same house in which Alex lived. It was too small to be a ‘boarding house’, usually a larger building with several boarders in residence. It was more likely that he rented a spare bedroom in that normal house, as someone ‘took in’ a boarder or ‘paying guest’ to help the household budget.

Image36094.PNG

(Photograph from Google Earth)

Ray had similar living arrangements. When he was eventually called up for Militia service, he was living at 22 Mitchell Street, North Footscray.⁸⁶ That house is also still standing.

The two houses were about a mile apart,⁸⁷ an easy distance for two fit young men accustomed to walking. There was a tram, too, and Ray had his motorbike.

Image36101.PNG

(Photograph from Google Earth)

Footscray had excitement for two country lads. They had both knocked around the bush for years, scratching a living, and were now probably content to have regular work, a comfortable bed, and the opportunity to support the Footscray VFL team.⁸⁸

One problem was attending Church. St John’s in City Road in South Melbourne appeared to be the only Lutheran Church active in Melbourne at that time and held Sunday services at 11:00am.⁸⁹ ⁹⁰ Its site had been chosen because of its central location and access to public transport, although it was nearly 13 km from where Ray and Alex lived. As Ray and Alex remained observant throughout their lives, they probably joined the congregation there.⁹¹

Image36108.PNG

When Alex enlisted, he stated that he was employed as a labourer.⁹² Alex’s son recalled that he was working in a Footscray factory,⁹³ and Alex recorded that he was working at the Maribyrnong Explosives Factory about the time he enlisted.⁹⁴ As a factory labourer he would have been carrying, cleaning, lifting and helping with the dirty, heavy, repetitive and sometimes dangerous jobs common in the factories of the time.

Postman Morris

Morris Harvey Rohrlach was only seventeen when Australia eventually entered the war against Germany and Italy, the youngest of the four Rohrlach brothers to go to war.⁹⁵ He was born on 11 July 1922 at Walla Walla, possibly at the hospital.

Like many teenagers, Morris

used to hate living at home too, but I only had to put up with it until I was 18 … I could never do anything, but if I didn’t want to go somewhere with them [his parents], I’d have to. Believe it or not, I was glad to go when I got my call up.⁹⁶

Morris was employed by the Postmaster-General (PMG) in Albury. The PMG was responsible for mail, telephone and telegram services.⁹⁷ Morris worked shifts as a telephone exchange operator before becoming a postman delivering mail.⁹⁸ Most postmen delivered mail on foot, with a huge bulging leather bag slung over one shoulder, or by push bike. Deliveries by vehicle were the exception rather than the rule.⁹⁹ He was working as a Postman by September 1941.¹⁰⁰

On his Enrolment Form for Military Service for Home Defence, Morris supplied two contact addresses: the Albury Post Office and 710 Young Street in Albury.¹⁰¹ The Post Office was in Dean Street, part of the Hume Highway.

The Young Street address was on one of Albury’s main thoroughfares, also part of the Hume Highway, and the home of one of Morris’s aunts, his father Ben’s sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Funk.¹⁰² She had a large home, with ample room for nephew Morris.¹⁰³ Morris contributed to his board and lodging, as was the custom.¹⁰⁴ Albury was not a large city, and several relatives lived and worked within a mile of each other.¹⁰⁵ Morris was young when he left the family home but was hardly isolated from his extended family.

As the Great Depression petered out and war became increasingly likely, Alex, Morris and Ray had found steady employment and Dave was well established in both his marriage and his missionary work.

Image40634.JPG

CHAPTER TWO

War in Europe

Europe and the Japanese Threat

I n distant Europe, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. It was the final straw for the British government, worried by German expansion. On 3 September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany.

Prime Minister Menzies announced on that same day that

It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. ¹⁰⁶

Anyone who bothered to read a newspaper, listen to the wireless, or visit the cinema where newsreels were screened¹⁰⁷ had known that war with Germany was almost certain; even the most rabid VFL fan couldn’t miss it.

Japan was also part of the larger picture. Modern readers may be unaware of the depth of fear of the ‘yellow peril’, of Asians coveting sparsely populated Australia. Chinese were the object of this fear in the nineteenth century, but the Japanese had largely replaced them in the twentieth century. Prime Minister ‘Billy’ Hughes was so convinced of the Japanese threat, even in 1919, that he faced down US President Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles Peace Conference at the end of the Great War. He won the right for Australia to administer former German colonies in New Guinea and New Britain when Wilson wanted Japan to assume that role.

Japan was granted responsibility for island groups in the Western Pacific,¹⁰⁸ and with Australia being responsible for New Guinea, Japanese and Australian ‘mandates’ were only 285 miles (about 460 kilometres) apart.¹⁰⁹ Writers in the Pacific Island Monthly, widely read by New Guinea expatriates such as Dave, were conscious of the Japanese mandates and suspicious of the activities of Japanese visitors to New Guinea.¹¹⁰ ¹¹¹

If the brothers were not newspaper readers, they almost certainly visited the ‘flicks’¹¹² when they had a spare shilling. The main feature at the local cinema was always preceded by ‘shorts’ such as cartoons, travel films, and newsreels such as Cinesound or Movietone.

Image36127.JPG

(Thanks to Cinesound Movietone Productions for permission to use this photograph)

The images of smiling and enthusiastic Japanese soldiers using living targets as bayonet practice and standing, glutted with vengeance, amidst piles of corpses, were harbingers for Australia. Any footage of Japanese advances in China brought to cinemas a hush that only Ronald Colman in The Prisoner of Zenda or Cary Grant in The Awful Truth could dispel. ¹¹³

However, most believed that the Japanese could not penetrate as far South as Australia, that the British base at Singapore would stop them, and that they would be easy to defeat anyway being stunted, short-sighted and poor rifle shots. However

As the Depression approached the end of its second year, a resurgent Japan invaded Manchuria, a gesture of expansion that, given the times, people wanted to ignore. But there was, under all the want and sense of emergency, an awareness of Japanese peril.¹¹⁴

Australian politicians and senior public servants understood that if the colonial powers of South East Asia¹¹⁵ were involved in a European war, they would be less able to deter Japan from expanding across Asia.

For over twenty years … professional soldiers and armchair strategists had been stressing the peril in the Pacific and taking as the starting point of their discussion of defence the probability that when war broke out in Europe Japan would take the opportunity to strike southward.¹¹⁶

In June 1940, Germany conquered France and in September 1940 Japan invaded the Northern parts of French Indochina;¹¹⁷ the French certainly couldn’t do much about it.¹¹⁸ The Japanese left Southern Indochina alone for the time being, not wanting to antagonise the US and Britain when Japan faced a hostile Soviet Union in Northern China.

Japan, Germany and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, agreeing to assist each other in diplomacy and war. Japan was now clearly on the same side as Germany and Italy.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and the Soviet leadership promptly lost interest in fighting Japan. By the end of July, Japan took advantage of this and occupied Southern Indochina, providing a base for the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies and British Malaya. The Netherlands, occupied by Germany, could not protect the valuable oil, rubber and tin of the Netherlands East Indies.¹¹⁹

But what could Australia do? The Australian Regular Army in 1939 was miniscule.

However, Section 59 of the Defence Act made male Australians of military age liable for service in the Militia¹²⁰ in time of war, although the Militia could serve only in Australia or Australian territories. So the government introduced conscription for Militia service while establishing a volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (the Second AIF, referred to here as the AIF) for overseas service.¹²¹

None of the Rohrlach brothers rushed into volunteering for military service. Like most men of their age, they were prepared to wait. The Government knew where they were, and would certainly call on them if the situation became sufficiently dire.

The Government hesitated about sending its newly raised AIF to Europe or the Middle East because of uncertainty about Japanese intentions¹²² However, 6 and 7 Divisions of the AIF were sent eventually to the Middle East to keep open the lines of communications between Europe and India, Malaya, and Australia, while most of 8 Division was sent to Singapore in February 1941 in case the Japanese attacked South. Home defences were to be improved.

All the brothers were eventually conscripted. Morris, Alex and Ray were as interested in foreign affairs as anyone else of their age – which probably meant not too interested at all – but they knew that they were being conscripted to defend Australia not from Germany and Italy, but from Japan.

Alex Called Up

The first compulsory Militia trainee consisting of unmarried men who would become 21 during the year ending on 30 June 1940¹²³ were called up for three months of Militia training. Alex was born in July 1919, and just missed being in the first group conscripted in 1940. He was called up for Militia service on 12 March 1941. By then, the European war was nearly a year and a half old. There was no urgency in conscripting the four brothers.

On Tuesday 11 March, as he left his factory, Alex may have reminded his foreman that he would not be at work on Wednesday. He had to join the Army.

It was a little cool when he left his boarding house that Wednesday morning. It was the beginning of Autumn, and about 55 degrees Fahrenheit.¹²⁴ It stayed cool all day, but at least it wasn’t raining. Alex reported to the Footscray Drill Hall on the corner of Gordon and Barkly Streets, Footscray West. ¹²⁵ He probably walked; it was fairly close to where he lived in Ballarat Road. The Drill Hall had been erected early in the century to house Militia units.¹²⁶

When Alex arrived there were probably trestle tables set up in the high-ceilinged open space that was the main feature of the Drill Hall. Offices, stores and an armoury lined one side. It was stark, utilitarian and chilly.

Image36135.JPG

The Footscray Drill Hall is now used by community arts groups. (Photograph from Google Earth)

There wasn’t a huge number of enlistees milling around; news reports indicated that there might have been only fifty enlistees. Of course, if the Army enlisted fifty soldiers each day for six days a week at several Drill Halls, the total numbers would become impressive very quickly.

Alex probably sat at one of the trestle tables across from a clerk to complete his Mobilization Attestation Form. He gave his date of birth as 6 July 1919, and his place of birth as Culcairn, New South Wales. He nominated his mother, Elizabeth Matilda Rohrlach,¹²⁷ as his Next of Kin. It was more usual to nominate the head of the household of an unmarried enlistee, but not uncommon to find mothers nominated. Her address at the time of Alex’s attestation was the family home at Walla Walla. Not surprisingly, he gave his religion as Lutheran.

There were various checks to be made.

Examination of each youth will last about 15 minutes, during which he will have to pass before a medical officer, an area officer, and an officer on the manpower committee. Then he will be classed as fit or unfit for military service or exempt under the reserve industry provisions.¹²⁸

Alex’s medical examination was probably fairly cursory, and carried out in the Drill Hall itself; one of the offices lining the side nearest the road may have served as a makeshift doctor’s surgery.

Prior to mobilisation for World War II the Army had only three permanent medical officers. The militia organisations were the backbone of the [Medical] Corps. These were backed up by civilian medical personnel who could be called up but most had no military or field training whatsoever and even the militia had had no on-going training since 1918. The Australian Army Medical Corps numbered 35 in 1938-1939 and increased to 49 during the following 12 months.¹²⁹

The examining officer, Dr W. T. O’Shaughnessy, was probably a general practitioner who had agreed to serve in the Officer Reserve but had possibly received no military training. He checked Alex to see if there was anything that would exclude him from service, but not much else was really possible given the pressure of mobilisation. There were none of the imaging or pathology tests that are a standard part of any modern medical examination.

Alex must have appeared healthy enough. Dr O’Shaughnessy passed Alex as Class I: Fit for active service with field formations,¹³⁰ able to serve with battle units such as infantry battalions.

Having been passed as both fit and not exempt from service because of his employment, he was assigned the Army service number V63154. The ‘V’ indicated that he enlisted in Victoria. The absence of an ‘X’ showed he was a Militia enlistee. If he had enlisted in the AIF, his number would have started with ‘VX’.

Alex checked carefully the information on the Attestation Form, and signed to indicate that it was correct. His signature is in a different handwriting to the rest of the form, so it is certain that someone else recorded his details. His signature was witnessed by Captain E Burnie, described on the Attestation Form as the Area Officer.¹³¹ Alex took Bible in hand and swore the very solemn Oath of Enlistment:

I, Alexander Harold Rohrlach, swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord, the King, in the Military Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia until the cessation of the present time of war or until sooner lawfully discharged, dismissed or removed, and that I will resist His Majesty’s enemies and cause His Majesty’s peace to be kept and maintained, and that I will in all matters appertaining to my service faithfully discharge my duty according to law.

So Help Me God!

Alex signed the Oath, duly witnessed again by Captain Burnie, and was then a member of the Australian Army.

Alex was photographed, with his army number clearly displayed and a ruler positioned to show his height. The photographs themselves were no-frills; the absence of a hat was to ensure a clear facial photograph. Alex obviously took some trouble with his appearance, with carefully combed and dressed hair. A copy was pasted in a soldier’s Pay Book, which served also as his identification document.¹³²

Image36142.PNG

The local Militia unit was 32 Infantry Battalion, but enlistees at the Footscray Drill Hall could also be allocated to the Ordnance Corps, a Light Horse Remount Squadron, or the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC). ¹³³

The AASC was responsible for obtaining, storing and distributing supplies from Ordnance depots. In the interwar period, the Army devoted its limited resources to units that could actually fight: infantry battalions, artillery batteries, light horse regiments, and so on. When limited training was carried out in the cash-strapped Depression years, it was planned well in advance so fresh supplies could be organised from local civilian contractors.

So the small AASC did not need to function at a high operational level. It possessed few vehicles; most were obsolete and poorly suited for their jobs. There were no units that could bake bread, butcher and distribute meat, operate cold storage, or hold and distribute petrol, oil and lubricants (POL). ¹³⁴

Image36149.PNG

War demanded a huge expansion in the AASC, and Alex possessed a skill that it needed. Although there is no copy in Alex’s file, Militia enlistee files sometimes include a small form detailing an enlistee’s skills. (From the collection of the National Archives of Australia.)

Alex held a driver’s licence;¹³⁵ his father Ben had taught him. With a family background of interest and skill in matters mechanical, he may have been able to make running repairs. He requested employment as a driver, and was posted to an AASC transport unit.¹³⁶ Records do not state which AASC unit, but it was part of 4 Infantry Division.

Alex didn’t commence intensive training until seven weeks later; he continued working at the factory. It was a common pattern of life for many Australians of military age.

Ray Follows Alex

The call up had been quickly expanded beyond the twenty-one year old group that included Alex. The Argus reported in December 1940 that

Ten more age groups become liable for military service in the Commonwealth under a proclamation issued last night by the Governor-General. All single men and widowers, without children, aged 19 years and in the 25 to 33 age groups (inclusive) are affected.

Men aged 20 to 24 were covered in previous proclamations.

The men in the new age groups, who will number about 150,000 throughout Australia and about 45,000 in Victoria, will be required to enlist for training in the Citizen Forces.

On Saturday 15 March 1941, as he locked the grocery store that he managed, Ray reminded those working there that he would not be at work on Monday.¹³⁷ Like Alex, he had to join the Army. He and Alex had probably talked about that in the week since Alex had enlisted.

Ray also reported to the Footscray Drill Hall.¹³⁸ He shrugged into his jacket before kicking his bike into life for the short five-minute journey from his boardinghouse on Monday morning. Even the short run to the Drill Hall was cold on a motorbike saddle when the temperature was 56 degrees.¹³⁹ ¹⁴⁰ He could walk in thirty minutes, but why walk when you could ride?

Ray eventually took a seat at a table, across from a uniformed clerk, who asked Ray the same questions asked of Alex.¹⁴¹ He gave his date of birth as 17 August 1913, his place of birth as Walla Walla, New South Wales, and his age as 27 years. He confirmed that he was a British subject, as all Australian citizens were described at that time. He was single, and had not served previously in the armed forces. Father Emil Bernhardt Rohrlach was nominated as Next of Kin. Ben’s address at the time of Ray’s enlistment was the family home ‘Iola’ near Walla Walla. Ray named his boarding house at 22 Mitchell Street, North Footscray as his place of residence, and his religion as Lutheran.

After the clerk finished, Ray seated himself opposite an older man, short and slightly built, who seemed to be about fifty. Captain Charles James Mitchell had joined the Militia in 1939, aware that he was too old for active service but wanting to ‘do his bit’.

Glancing at the medal ribbons on Captain Mitchell’s tunic, Ray realised that he was a serviceman from the Great War, although he wore more ribbons than most ‘returned men’. Ray possibly didn’t recognise the ribbon that showed Captain Mitchell had served as early as 1915, or that he had received both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Belgian Croix de Guerre for bravery.¹⁴² Mitchell and other ‘returned men’ who enlisted in World War 2 were sometimes called ‘retreads’,¹⁴³ but usually with good-natured humour rather than contempt.

Ray and Captain Mitchell talked over a few things, and after checking the information on his Mobilization Attestation Form, Ray signed to indicate that it was correct. Captain Mitchell witnessed his signature by also signing the form. With a few words of encouragement, Captain Mitchell sent Ray off for his medical exam – with an unexpected result. He was declared to be Class 5 – Unfit for military service. The reasons given were General Physique – Asthma.¹⁴⁴

A photograph of the four brothers in September 1942 certainly shows Ray as the shortest and slightest of the four. Lester Rohrlach commented that Ray was quite