Amy Hume
KILMORE war hero John Sheehan turns 90 next month, but not without a lifetime of stories.
His best known is perhaps his gruelling time spent as a prisoner of war after enlisting in the AIF at Shepparton Drill Hall on November 1939, at just 18 years old.
As part of Reinforcement 2/7 Battalion, 6th Division 17th Brigade, Mr Sheehan’s army days in Australia were short-lived and he served just 28 days before heading out by ship and the journey began.
He completed training in the deserts of Palestine and then took part in the campaign at Tripoli against the Italians.
John has recorded many of his war memories over the years.
“About April 1 (1941) we left on our merry way to Greece, where Australians were to be sacrificed on the shores of Greece and Crete.
“We were [threatened] most of the way by German bombers. Some of our unit were travelling on the Cameronia and several times German bombs straddled the Singalese Prince which carried our equipment and others of our unit.”
They faced a similar fate at Kalamata Bay later that month when they went out on light craft to board the Costa Rica.
“We moved off at daylight and German bombers started to farewell us with plenty of bombing during the afternoon.
“Some landed close to the Costa Rica and sprung some of the plates and stopped the engines…
“Destroyers Hero and Hereward came alongside and took us off the sinking ship.”
John and his fellow Australian soldiers eventually moved in around the Canea Suda Bay area where they were to defend against German army air attacks.
“It was almost non-stop,” he recalled.
“About May 26 the rearguard action started as we were running very low on ammo and other supplies.
“The withdrawal to Sphakia Bay was across the White Mountains, approximately 3000 feet high and we arrived there early on Sunday, June 1, to see our ship moving off.
“Our colonel was left to surrender the Isle of Crete to German Army.”
From here John endured days as a prisoner reburying dead German soldiers, working for a German family, farming, digging canals, and even spent time at a brick factory in Grudziadz.
He recalled the poor conditions of the camps he was forced to stay at. He described Skenes as “dirty with plenty of lice and slit trenches for latrines,” and camp Thessalonika in Greece was made up of “flea and bug ridden huts.”
“Most of us had lost a lot of weight through dysentery and very little food,” he said.
John recalled camp Thessalonika as a harrowing experience.
“By then we had a different lot of guards who we very trigger happy and who liked to use the rifle butt on us as well,” he said.
“These chaps were the misfits Hitler used as guards. Quite a few of our chaps were shot at night as the guards would spray the grounds with machine gun fire.”
John eventually worked up the courage to escape with an English prisoner and together they made their way towards Russia.
It was five months after they escaped that they arrived in Southampton and he was able to leave from here on the long journey back to Australia.
Mr Sheehan was discharged on July 24, 1945, just before the war ended.
He had served 1949 days overseas and 37 days in Australia for a total of 1986 days in uniform. He finally received a deferred paid sum of 2048 pounds and five shillings ($497).
Remembrance Day takes place next Thursday, November 11.
