Lesson Point, Rabaul, New Britain, 1945-10. After the Japanese surrender at the end of the war, ...

Place Oceania: Pacific Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Area, Rabaul
Accession Number P02257.047
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white
Physical description Black & white
Maker Griffiths, Allen
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Lesson Point, Rabaul, New Britain, 1945-10. After the Japanese surrender at the end of the war, members of a RAAF Equipment Recovery Party sit and smoke cigarettes with Japanese servicemen in the former wardroom of a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Air Arm which was based at Rapopo Airfield. The men are (left to right): Flying Officer (FO) Gene McCarthy; Commander Hori, the second-in-command of local Japanese forces; unknown; unknown; 82586 FO Allen Robert Griffiths, commander of the Recovery Party. FO McCarthy and Commander Hori smile as the former peruses what may be a surrendered document. The three men (right) are sitting around a well-made oval table on which an inkwell, ashtray and other items rest. An electric light bulb hangs over the table. Mounted on the wall behind the men is a large blackboard on which has been drawn a table filled mainly Japanese characters. FO McCarthy and FO Griffiths are intelligence officers serving with Headquarters, RAAF Northern Command (NORCOM).