Strong, Henry Beverley (Sergeant, b.1912 - d.2000)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of NG2310 Sergeant Henry Beverley Strong, New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, 1939-1946.

The collection includes a 3-page memoir Strong wrote in 1986 of his time in Salamaua and his service with the New Guinea Volunteers Rifles (NGVR) during the Second World War. Strong, a teller with the Bank of New South Wales, arrived in New Guinea in December 1939 to work at the Salamaua branch. Along with many of his colleagues, Strong joined the NGVR as the threat of war with Japan intensified. He recalls that the men were issued old Lee-Enfield .303 rifles and a Lewis gun, remarking "I don’t remember it ever being fired, I certainly didn’t fire my 303." He also writes of the lookout and machine gun nest the men constructed for defence in Salamaua, labelling the measures as "Useless", and vividly recalls the Japanese aerial attack on Salamaua on 21 January 1942. The bank branch was closed in the aftermath of the attack and the men were taken into the army for full-time service. Strong worked with a team of forward scouts, operating between Wau and Salamaua, until he was withdrawn to Port Moresby and, later, to Sydney. He thrice suffered attacks of malaria following his return to Australia, but married and was discharged in 1946.

The collection also includes a list of personnel Strong served with in the NGVR and his brief recollections of the men.