I Was Only Doing My Job: Australia's Military History

20-MAY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the Australian defensive operations along the Kokoda Trail in the Pacific.

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20-MAY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the disastrous defence of Crete and the prelude to the Kokoda Campaign in the Pacific.

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3-JANUARY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the rapid advance of the Australian Imperial Force across North Africa, and the disastrous Operation Lusture, or the Allied involvement in the Greece Campaign.

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Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi here 

3-JANUARY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the first involvement of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War, the Capture of Bardia during Operation Compass.

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Earlier this month I sat down with Melissa Ratliff from God's Favorites: A History Podcast to discuss her current project, saving the Sundowner a motor yacht formerly owned by Charles Lightoller, who was Second Officer aboard the RMS Titanic for her ill-fated maiden voyage in April, 1912. She participated in the Dunkirk evacuation as one of the Little ships of Dunkirk before falling on hard times more recently. 

Link to the #SaveSundowner gofundme 

To find Melissa on TikTok click here 

For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,MastodonYouTube

9-JUNE-1928. While serving as a despatch rider as part of the 4th Division Signals Company during the First World War, Sergeant Charles Edward Kingsford Smith sought a greater adrenaline rush and joined the Australian Flying Corps. Later serving in the Royal Flying Corps; British Expeditionary Force, he shot down four German aircraft before he was shot down and grounded due to injury. 

Not to be stopped, "Smithy" after the war became an aviation pioneer and held the record for having the most aviation records including being the only person at the time to cross the Pacific Ocean from the USA to Australia in both directions and the first person to complete a cross-equator circumnavigation of the globe. 

IWODMJ Discord Server member AyoshiStar requested this episode and is guest director.

31-JULY-1969. While serving as a Door Gunner on an American Crewed UH-1C Iroquois Helicopter Gunship as part of the Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam, attached to the 135th Assault Helicopter Company, US Army, as part of the Experimental Military Unit (EMU), Leading Aircraftman Noel Ervin Shipp was killed in action while providing gunfire to support the evacuation of troops on the ground and was observed to be continuing to fire even as the helicopter he was in plummeted to the ground

My Silent Hero is a project to honour and preserve the memory of those who have served Australia during times of war. Each of these servicemen and women had lives before they enlisted and, if they survived, after the war. They were, or are, humble human beings who, for a great many current Australians, are family. Yet now for many, their memory is just a name on a plaque, an initial or two and a surname.  My Silent Hero will help you remember them as people and as family.

For more information check out https://mysilenthero.blogspot.com

8-February-1917. While serving as a Stretcher Bearer as part of 55th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. Corporal Ernest Albert "Ernie" Corey, was awarded an unprecdendent four Military Medals, the third highest award for gallantry in the British System of Awards for his tireless and continual devotion to rescuing wounded soldiers during the war on the Western Front. Despite the claim of being the Highest Decorated Australian Soldier, Corey was a timid man who took great pride in the knowledge that he received four Military Medals for saving people and never fired a shot in anger.

28-OCTOBER-1950, This is the conclusion of the life service and Legacy of Professional Soldier Lieutenant GeneralRobert Harold Nimmo, who served in both the First and Second World Wars in Brigade and General Staff Roles before his retirement in 1950. He would then go on to serve as the longest continuously serving Chief Military Observer in United Nations History when he took command of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) becoming the first Australian to command a UN Peacekeeping Mission and at 15 years and 2 months the longest serving UN Commander

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