Post-War

But first, I want to record my eternal gratitude to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their ongoing post-war medical coverage and care, for which I sincerely thank you DVA!

On 29 November 1945 I was discharged early from the Army on a Compassionate Discharge as I had lost both brothers during the war. At a final medical examination at Watsonia Camp, the Doctor counted my legs and arms – I had two of each! – so I was discharged as being fit to face civilian life!

My discharge authority

In fact, I had been lucky to emerge from the war with no malaria or dengue fever, which were both rife. My only health concern had been a boil on the back of my neck, which a native straddled with two pieces of string and, twisting to lasoo it, plucked it clean out.

However, I should note that on a recent cruise to Milne Bay a native tour guide described the conditions of 1942 as being ‘the place of hell’. It reminded me of a brief stint I had there when a mobile dental unit caught up with me! During two consecutive days, I suffered gruelling drillings of four molar teeth on each day with no anesthetic needles and driven by foot pedal power. Occasionally the dentist had to stop when the drill jammed and he had to crank it up again. It was indeed a ‘place of hell’! Apart from that experience, I came home missing about eight teeth, finishing up with one in each corner of my mouth. Remarkably, I passed as dentally fit as well!

For my war service I received the 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-45.

War service medals on right, OAM (1990) on left

My role with the Coastwatchers was acknowledged in the following letter.

James Burrowes Coastwatcher commendation 12 Nov 1945

Three years later I met my future wife Beryl and we married in 1951.

Jim & Beryl wedding 24 Feb 1951

Beryl was a veteran of the Womens Australian Auxiliary Air Force (‘WAAAF’). After a difficult childhood following a parental break-up, Beryl left school early to go to work and help bring up her younger sisters. Beryl and her older sister joined the WAAAF in 1943. Beryl then served for 3 years.

Beryl in uniform

Beryl and me in 2016 holding photos of ourselves taken during the war.

About this period, Beryl declared ‘It was the best thing I have done in my life’. Her war service was a ‘great leveller’, teaching her that all people are equal, after she had been selected to undertake a course on the newly developed radar but knocked it back due to her lack of self-esteem at the time.

For her service during World War II, Beryl was awarded the Australian Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-45.

Following our marriage, Beryl and I had four lovely children: Bob and Tom (named after my two brothers lost during the war), Janeen and Catherine, and our two girls have since given us four wonderful grandchildren: Stephen, Megan, Michael and Quinn.

Bob, Cathy, Tom & Jan. Photo taken in 2003.

After the war I had resumed work at the Chartered Accountants office and took on correspondence training with Hemingway and Robertson to attain the required qualifications. In 1949 I became a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Secretary and a Licenced Companies Auditor.

I then decided to leave the accountancy field and join A.V. Jennings Industries (the largest house-building company in Australia) as assistant to the Company Secretary…. If you wish to read about the highs and lows of my business career, see ‘My Career: All the way with AVJ – and beyond’.

I also undertook much volunteer work, particularly with The Royal Life Saving Society – Australia, Victoria Branch, which had operated in Victoria since 1904. I became State Treasurer in 1976 and served 23 years in this or the State Secretary role. Given my business experience, I was able to increase the budget of the state organisation from $33,000 turnover in 1976 to over $1,000,000 by the early 1980s (and currently $7,000,000) and to finance the building of the organisation’s first owned and purpose-built state headquarters in 1980. I was appointed the Victorian representative on the Australian Board of Governors for many years. Separately from that, I qualified as a lifesaver and gained all awards issued by the RLSSA including the Bronze Medallion but also the coveted Diploma with Honours, which has been awarded only twice in Victoria since 1904.

Some of the lifesaving awards and honours that I have received from The Royal Life Saving Society.

For my service to the RLSSA, I was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 1990.

My other significant volunteer involvements have been with the Box Hill RSL Bowls Club and the Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria Inc., each of which, along with the RLSSA, awarded me Life Membership.

Bowls Club champion, 1997

Now each at the age of 97, Beryl and I have enjoyed almost 70 years happily married and watching our family prosper. We have now been living quietly in a retirement village for the last 20 years, except when we are cruising on holidays. We have taken 39 voyages to various parts of the world so far!

It was during these cruises that, in the late 1990s, I finally found time to resume my childhood hobby of painting, of which one of my favourites was ‘Blue Wrens’, painted in 1938 when I was 15.

Blue Wrens

Although, for example, I sketched my radio hut in Madang during the war.

My pencil sketch of inside my radio hut in Madang, 1944.

And I painted this after a trip to Bougainville in 1974.

A Bougainville bay scene

A selection of my more recent paintings is reproduced below.

A cruise ship on which we have enjoyed 33 of our 39 cruises

But we have also voyaged to the USA 6 times on the container ship Melbourne Star

The Bounty arriving at Pitcairn Island some years before we did!

An island beach resort

Two wrens ‘wresting’

Sketch of a ship passing through the Panama Canal

Our container ship passing through the Panama Canal

The Australian landscape

The Australian landscape (stylized)

Drover with horse and dogs

Silhouette of a boomerang thrower

Australian ghost gum on billabong

Sheep grazing under ghost gums

Antarctic iceberg with my daughter and son-in-law (centre) waving

Penguins in Antarctica

A walrus duet

Kookaburras just after dawn

Kookaburra pair looking at you!

The Sinking of the Titanic

My granddaughter’s cat Bonnie

The Wolf

Harry Potter painted for my second grandson when he was younger

A Mediterranean town in summer

My son-in-law’s cat Morgan

Looking out to sea

Seascape

My grandson sailing his yacht Red Pepper

Eyes of the Tiger

One other unusual highlight of my life that feels worth mentioning is that I remember an occasion when Beryl and I had the pleasure of meeting, shaking hands with and having a chat to the wonderful Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, visiting Melbourne at the time.

Nelson Mandela

More recently, on 17 July 2017 I also had the great pleasure of meeting Dr Betty Lee, grandniece of Commander Eric Feldt, founder of the Coastwatchers. I have since enjoyed many conversations with Betty as we pursue our joint interest in raising awareness of the exploits and achievements of the Coastwatchers during World War II.

On 20 March 2019, Betty and I were among those interviewed about the history of the Coastwatchers by Vice Admiral Peter Jones at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in Canberra. And following a tour of the Australian War Memorial, I met the Director, Dr. Brendan Nelson. You can read about that day, and see several photos, on ‘A Day to Remember’.

Betty and me at the ADFA, 20 March 2019

I am a member of the local Returned and Services League (RSL) club as well as the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia and, since 6 April 2019, a Life Member of the Victorian branch of the Australian Commando Association, now run by a fine new generation of younger Commandos!

I still take up opportunities to write articles about the Coastwatchers and make presentations to interested associations. In recent years I have spoken on such diverse occasions as the ANZAC Day dawn service in Rabaul in 2012 to mark the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, to RSL audiences, ham radio operators, the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, and even on a cruise ship to Rabaul. I enjoy sharing the story of the Coastwatchers.

I even had another (unusual) opportunity to raise interest in the Coastwatchers on 25 July 2019 when Beryl and I attended the anniversary presentation ceremony of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. On this occasion I was presented with a certificate and badge from Vice President Peter Rupp FCA, recognizing my 70 years as a Chartered Accountant. I am the longest-standing Chartered Accountant in Victoria.

Peter Rupp FCA presents me with a certificate to acknowledge my 70 years as a Chartered Accountant; 25 July 2019.

I have been fortunate to receive some recognition both of my war service and for my contributions in civilian life since the war. These have been arranged to form my Wall of Honour.

My Wall of Honour

Before continuing this account of my post-war life, it is pertinent to record that on 27 July 2022 I was privileged, together with fellow Coastwatcher Dixie Lee, to spend time with the new US Ambassador to Australia, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, daughter of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

This event took place as part of a commemoration held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to recognize the rescue of the young Lt. Kennedy – later US President Kennedy – by Australian and Solomon Islander Coastwatchers in World War II. Dixie and I joined the commemoration by video call from the US Consulate in Melbourne. Dixie was represented in Canberra by his daughter, Eve Ash, and I was represented in Canberra by my son Tom.

As part of this commemoration, Dixie and I were presented with replicas of the coconut on which JFK carved his famous note requesting rescue, which was taken by Solomon Island Coastwatchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana to another coastwatcher, Reg Evans. You can read a fuller account of this event and the occasion to commemorate it on Ambassador’s Accolade.

Holding the imitation coconut presented by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy in recognition of JFK’s rescue by coastwatchers.

But to resume the original story….

On 17 November 2019 I was pleased to attend, accompanied by several members of my extended family, the annual commemorative event at Tidal River where the original commandos in World War II were trained, as I explained in the article ‘The Origin of the Independent Companies and Training at Tidal River’.

The focus of the event was the contribution of members of Z Special Unit during the war and, as part of the commemoration, relatives of two Z members – Sgt. David Gooley and Lt. Bruno Raymond – were presented with commemorative Z plaques. In addition, Dixie Lee and I, the only surviving members of M Special Unit, were presented with commemorative M plaques by Major General A. Gregory Melick AO RFD FANZCN SC, national president of both the Australian Commando Association (ACA) and the Returned and Services League Australia (RSL), in the presence of Colonel Doug Knight, president of the Australian Commando Association – Victoria.

Major General Greg Melick presents me with a commemorative M Special plaque with fellow coastwatcher Dixie Lee (left) and Col. Doug Knight (president of the ACAV) looking on. Photo: David Jack

After the ceremony I had the pleasure of a brief discussion with Major General Melick.

Major General Melick and the M Special plaque, which I deeply appreciate, he presented me.

I also had the pleasure of a brief conversation with Brigadier Craig Shortt DSC CSC, Commander of Special Forces Group of the Australian Defence Force, who advised some continuing interest in Morse Code given the fact that modern electronic communication still has its vulnerabilities.

Brig. Craig Shortt, Commander of Special Forces Group, and I swap notes on the importance of communication to military effectiveness.

And I caught up with my fellow coastwatcher, Dixie Lee, with whom I had a great yarn!

The Last Coastwatchers: Dixie Lee and me having a yarn at Tidal River.

A Commando for Life!

Certificate of Appreciation and Commemorative medallion received on the 75th anniversary of service in World War II

On 11 November 2023, having now passed my 100th birthday, I attended the Remembrance Day service at the Box Hill RSL Cenotaph accompanied by my grandson Stephen, my son Bob and daughter-in-law Anita. During the service I had time to reflect on the death of my brothers, Bob and Tom, during World War II as well as lay a wreath in their memory.

Lest we forget.

My grandson Stephen with me at the Box Hill RSL Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, 2023.

Bob & Anita joined me at the Box Hill RSL Cenotaph too.