Fitzgerald, Leonard Doolan (Stoker, b.1921 - d.1982)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of R23604 Stoker Leonard Doolan Fitzgerald, HMAS Sydney (1935-1941), Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Mediterranean Sea, 1940-1941.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Collection consists of one diary of Stoker Leonard Doolan Fitzgerald, with entries dated between 13 June 1940 and 3 February 1941. In his diary, Stoker Fitzgerald records, in detail, his experiences of serving in the Mediterranean in HMAS Sydney II. Some of these experiences include the sinking of their first submarine, bombarding Tobruk, action with enemy ships, pulling injured survivors from the sea, the tension between the Allied and French navies in Alexandria, regular patrols, defeating the Italian Cruiser, Bartolomeo Calleoni, on 19 July 1940, being a part of the funeral party for the skipper of the Bartolomeo Calleoni skipper, successful bombardment operations, escorting a convoy through a minefield, seeing Anzac Cove in Turkey, hearing that Greece had declared war on Italy, being narrowly missed by an enemy torpedo, transporting troops and supplies to Crete and Athens, intercepting an Italian transport fleet in the Adriatic Sea, hearing various pieces of war news from around the Mediterranean, having a very good Christmas dinner, having the ship repaired at Malta, the celebration when the crew heard that the ship was returning to Australia, and journeying home. The back of the diary contains lists of ships in the fleet and numbers of people killed. A transcript of the collection is available (pdf file).

• Wallet 1 of 1 - Diary of Leonard Doolan Fitzgerald, 1940-1941