Voices from the Air (42 page)

Thompson, Patricia (nee Drakeford Cole) 305, 346

Thompson, Peter 346

Timor 11, 106, 109, 124, 125–32, 133, 312

Timor Sea 105

Tobruk 34, 41–4, 50, 65, 87, 141, 323, 341

      
siege of 71–83, 84, 218

Tokyo 16, 91, 226, 254, 329

      
Japanese surrender 282, 300–2, 332

Tol Plantation massacre 309

Top End 118–24

Torricelli Mountains 266

Townsville 92, 110, 111, 112–15, 117, 139

      
bombing 114–15

Troops
306

Turkey 71

Turnbull, Norma
see
Hemery, Norma

ulcers 293

USS
Missouri
300, 301

Veria Pass 55

Vichy French 66, 70

Vietnam War 323

“Voices from Overseas” 31, 63, 71, 77, 83

Wadi Auda 73

Wakde island group 231

Walker, David 95

War Correspondent
224

war correspondents 1–2, 89, 168–9, 174, 246, 261–2, 299
see also by name

      
ABC 2–3, 5, 7–8, 24, 26, 93, 136, 322

      
American 262, 338–39

      
BBC 24–5, 63, 75, 90–1, 185, 188, 289, 324

      
censorship
see
censorship

      
death in action 8, 206, 283, 284, 286–8, 337–8

      
illness 8, 70, 131, 138–9, 151, 156, 163, 169–71, 177, 204, 213, 222, 226, 255, 268, 271, 272, 331, 333–4, 335, 338

      
injury 8, 127, 131–2, 206–8, 236, 244, 249, 252, 338

      
military aircraft, flying on 148, 160, 181, 186, 203, 206–8, 227–9, 252, 256, 280

      
restrictions on movement 267, 269

      
role of 7–9, 86–8, 121–2, 136, 200, 217, 322

      
stories delayed 77, 148, 160, 177, 181, 182, 195–6, 199, 270, 278–9, 299

      
weapons, carrying 182, 215, 220–1, 230, 242, 267

war crimes trials

      
German 324

      
Japanese 12, 311–21, 347, 348

Ward, Edward 53, 75

Washington 91

Wau 178

Wavell, General 61

Weekend Magazine
341

Western Desert 34, 35, 36, 44, 47, 50, 64, 65, 142, 167, 220

Wewak 173, 185, 228, 230, 241, 246, 263, 266, 272–5

White, Osmar 143–4

Why I sent Such Brilliant Recordings from Tarakan
279

Williams, Gordon 118, 198, 255

Wilmot, Chester 5, 6, 10, 61, 111, 116, 132, 193, 224, 289, 323–5, 336, 344

      
army PR, and 51–2, 147–51, 201

      
background 28–30

      
Bardia 36–41

      
Benghazi 48–50

      
Blamey, conflict with 147–51, 323

      
character 50, 63, 144, 324–5

      
D-Day 324

      
death 325

      
Derna 45–8

      
Europe 289, 323–5

      
Greece, in 52–9, 61, 95

      
HMAS
Perth
63–5

      
Middle East, in 30–50, 60, 62–86, 88, 96, 111, 135, 148, 326

      
New Guinea 132, 140–53, 155

      
Pacific war 89, 111–12, 114–15, 132, 140–53, 155

      
post-war 324–5

      
propaganda, on 51–2

      
Tobruk 41–4, 71–5, 77, 78–83, 323

      
Townsville 112–13, 114–15

      
war correspondents, view of 86–8, 89

      
wounded by shrapnel 84–5, 86

Wilmot, Edith (nee Irwin) 29, 61, 69, 79, 80, 111, 325

wire recorder 315–16

Woodlark Island 175–6

Woodward, David 324

Woolley, Sergeant Donald 315

Wootten, Major General 302

Wyer Point 169

Wykes, SA 17, 90, 94

Yamamura, Major General 302–3

Yodda Valley 156

Yokohama 301

Young, Barry 113, 180

The ABC field unit – the utility truck and ‘Jumbo' the three-ton mobile studio, before leaving for the Middle East. The utility travelled close to 20,000 kilometres across the battlefronts of North Africa, Greece and the Middle East. 1940. (ABC Archives)

Interior of the ABC mobile studio used by Chester Wilmot, Lawrence Cecil and the technicians, Bill MacFarlane and Leo Gallwey. The Chevy van was fitted out with recording turntables using sapphire needle cutting heads to cut tracks into the discs. 1940. (ABC Archives)

Telegram received at the ABC in Australia from Arthur Mason in the London office, 1 September 1939, carrying the text of Hitler's radio address to the German people, signalling his intention to invade Poland. London was the first and most important source of independent news for the ABC. Urgent messages or news from the London office were sent by telegram; other communication was mostly by letter. (NAA)

Chester Wilmot, photo taken in Tobruk, 1941. Wilmot was the first ABC war correspondent. (ABC Archives)

Chester Wilmot writing at his table in the villa at Ikingi Maryut. The house was not far from Alexandria on the edge of the Western Desert and was the advance base for the field unit during their coverage of the Libyan campaign. (Photo courtesy of Wilmot family)

Lawrence Cecil in the Middle East with ABC colleague and bandleader Jim Davidson, who was in charge of concert parties for the AIF. As a radio producer, Cecil was well known to many broadcasting figures serving overseas. May 1941. (NAA/ABC Archives)

Chester Wilmot with his gear, and typewriter in hand, on the wharf at Piraeus. Believed to be upon his arrival with Lawrence Cecil and Bill MacFarlane to cover the Greek campaign with the AIF. After a brief stay in Athens they headed into the mountains where Australian troops were awaiting the expected German invasion. They were evacuated a few weeks later through the port of Piraeus with the retreating Allied forces. March 1941. (Photo courtesy of Wilmot family)

The ABC field unit utility truck being landed safely at Alexandria after the evacuation from Greece. Very few vehicles were saved during the evacuation of 50,000 Allied troops. Lawrence Cecil and Bill MacFarlane sailed with the truck and the field unit recording equipment; their ship was attacked five times on the journey across the Mediterranean. April 1941. (NAA/ABC Archives)

‘In a moment or two we found ourselves joined by a party of Diggers who came bowling down the road on some very fractious mules.' Queensland Diggers in Syria who fought in the battle for Merdjayoun, with Lawrence Cecil, listening to the BBC news on the field unit radio by the side of the road. June 1941. (NAA)

Chester Wilmot recording one of his reports from Acre, Syria. Set up on the back of a truck, the microphone is protected against the wind by a white cloth. A ceasefire had come into effect in Syria and Lebanon the day before the photo was taken. Following the Syrian campaign, Wilmot headed to Tobruk to record the story of the long siege of the Allied garrison. 13 July 1941. Photograph by George Silk. (AWM/ABC Archives)