Concerts to commemorate the Montevideo Maru sinking

Jerry Atric said :

Time of the service at the AWM?

Service starts at 11.30am. Full details from here – https://memorial.org.au/about-the-society/activities/events/89-standard/253-dedication-of-rabaul-and-montevideo-maru-memorial-and-70th-anniversary-memorial-luncheon-30-june1july-2012.html

This has to be one of the most important “thank you, service personnel” of all the many 70th anniversaries commemorated at the AWM and down Anzac Parade this year.

There’s an Australian documentary:
http://www.montevideomaru.com.au/

I guess the silver lining is that these drowned Aussies avoided 3 years of maltreatment, torture, and summary execution at the hands of their thoroughly dishonourable Japanese captors.

A great-uncle of mine survived 3 years at the hands of the Japs. Weighed 47kg when rescued at the end of the war, saw most of his comrades arbitrarily starved, shot, and beheaded along the way.

The PoW display at the War Memorial does a great job of not varnishing over just how badly the Japanese behaved in WW2, although their even worse behaviour vis-a-vis the natives in New Guinea and elsewhere still needs more explicit documentation.

It’s on page 2 of the embedded release:

10.00am for the first bit.

Time of the service at the AWM?

Have you got details of the service? I knew many people who lost friends and relations in the sinking, including a long ago girlfriend in Rabaul who lost her father.