Darwin Defenders 1942-45 Inc

Links to news coverage of the 2008 commemoration ceremonies in various locations:

• Brief news story (Radio Australia, 19 February) describing arrangements for the Darwin ceremony (the same story appears on the ABC Darwin web site)
• Air raid mates meet by chance after 66 years: Bertie Wansley and Ron Ronson are reunited in Darwin (Northern Territory News, 18 February)
• Veterans’ Affairs Minister Alan Griffin announces that the first Wednesday in September will become an official commemoration day (Sydney Morning Herald, 18 February)
• The Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory says a proposed new military museum should be located at East Point (ABC News, 18 February)
• Brief news article about a commemoration at East Point Military Museum in Darwin (ABC News (17 February)
• Woman in homage to brave ancestor: article about Leading Seaman Physical Trainer Corinne Williams, who will lay a wreath in Darwin in memory of her great-grandfather, Petty Officer Frank Moore, who was fatally wounded in the first raid (Northern Territory News, 17 February)
• Darwin bombing to be remembered in Bankstown NSW: brief article including phone number for further details (St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, 14 February)

More ABC News stories about topics related to World War II.

Darwin commemorates bombing anniversary: The Age, 19 February 2007 (also published in the Sydney Morning Herald). “As a new generation of American and Australian military men and women confront the threat of terrorism against the free world we remember the bonds on which our alliance was built, the history which our two countries share,” said US Ambassador Robert McCallum at the Darwin ceremony.

Meet Natimuk’s Darwin Defender: Transcript of an ABC local radio interview with Tim Boehm, a Darwin Defender with the 19th Machine Gun Battalion, made up mainly of men from the Wimmera district of Victoria. “He [the Zero pilot] wasn’t very far away, certainly within vision. I can still see him now. It was close enough for me.”

Aussies remember Japanese air raid: Short article on DailyIndia.com news site.

F/A-18, sirens mark air raid anniversary: Short news item on ABC Northern Territory news site.

The Road to War: description of an ABC Radio program about the Stuart Highway’s role as a vital link between Alice Springs and Darwin during World War II. Includes photos and quotes from veterans.