“John Curtin (1885 – 1945), Australia’s colorful Prime Minister, pointed out to me that Australia is in the front line now. Her security and way of life are threatened. The Japanese have pushed deep Southward toward her iron, timber, wool and meat… [Curtin] is a man of action. Sixty minutes after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor he was sending out this declaration:
“From one hour ago, Australia has been at war with the Japanese Empire!”
After the fall of Singapore, he declared:
Our Honeymoon is finished. It is now fight or work as never before. Every citizen has a parallel duty with that of the fighting forces.”
“The Australians now have factories that produce precision lenses, parachutes, gas masks, radio equipment, predictors for anti-aircraft guns, pontoon bridges, range finders, telescopic gun sights, tank periscopes, gun cotton, munitions, barbed wire and other essentials for the modern war machine. In addition to feeding, clothing and equipping her own troops, Australia is sending foodstuffs, clothing, boots and munitions to the British and Allies in the Near East and Far east.”
Click here to read a 1944 article about Australian soldiers.
Click here to read about another W.W. II ally: Brazil.
Click here to read about the Canadian Army in France.
