By REBECCA BILLS
FORGING his mother’s signature at age 17 and getting a fake birth certificate stating he was 19, Bill Holmes enlisted in the army in 1941.
Registering at the Melbourne Town Hall, he was enlisted with the 7th Infantry Battalion, serving in Darwin.
Mr Holmes said he wanted to join the army as he was the youngest in his friendship group and everyone else had already enlisted and left.
“One lunchtime I just decided I was going to go, went down to Melbourne Town Hall and enlisted,” he said.
“I was only 17 at the time but a friend of mine had a sister who was able to give me a new birth certificate saying I was 19.”
Mr Holmes said he arrived in Darwin after the first Japanese bombing and witnessed many bombings over a 23-month period.
“Nobody down south knew what was going on; they didn’t want to frighten them,” he said.
“While that was going on, I was sent to the Tablelands for training in jungle warfare and I went on to New Guinea after that.”
Mr Holmes served also in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville as a Bren gunner.
“You don’t feel the danger when you’re young and a gunner, you become immune to it all because of your training,” he said.
“That is until you lose one of your mates – it just makes you more determined to get it over and done with.”
Mr Holmes said he was discharged in Royal Park in 1946 with the rank of corporal, and said there was no de-briefing in those days.
“I just caught the tram home and that was that,” he said.
“We really relied on our mates, you kept in touch with everyone – out of 1300 or so of us in the 7th Battalion there are only about 20 of us left now.
“I also collapsed with malaria and ended up in Repatriation Hospital three or four times – while we were serving over there we took a tablet that meant we didn’t get sick but when we got home we didn’t get the tablet and ended up sick.”
In 1948 Mr Holmes joined the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as an instructor and retired in 1962 as a Warrant Officer Class One.
He said a highlight of his time in the army was in 1995 when he was nominated as part of the 50th anniversary of World War II’s ‘Australia Remembers’ to go on a pilgrimage to New Guinea.
“I’ve just turned 90 and looking back you remember the good times and your very good mates who were more like family,” he said.
“Anzac Day is a day that we know we will get back together – it’s our little reunion.”
Mr Holmes moved to Emerald in 1982 and served the local RSL Emerald branch in various capacities including acting as president three times, and is still an active member.
