HMAS ASSAULT Association

Miscellaneous papers compiled by the HMAS Assault Association of Australia. Includes a typscript history of the training and operational work of HMAS Assault in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, NSW 1942-1945 by Eric N. Prowd dated 1988. A summary of the naval record of Commander Frederick Norton Cook, commanding officer of HMAS Assault 1942-1944 and some observations on the impact of trained crews from HMAS Assault on the combined amphibious landings in the South West Pacific. Prowd also writes about the extent to which the Japanese military high command were prepared to stand and fight, the allied casualties and a possible allied assault operation called 'Olympic' on Japan. Included also is an address delivered by Commander James Hume (retired) 1993 which has references to HMAS Kanimbla, HMAS Manoora, HMAS Westralia and the USS Henry T. Allen which were managed by HMAS Assault to provide the RAN Commando Beach Groups. An address by Trevor K. Lloyd dated 1994 describes the involvement of personnel from HMAS Assault in D and F Day landings in the South West Pacific. Here mention is made to the high regard which the American officers had for the performance of the Australian Landing Ships Infantry (LSI) crews. There is reference to the high incidence of skin cancer and the often primitive conditions in which the crews had to operate. There are typescript copies of the diaries of former HMAS Assault Beach Commandos A/B E.R.(Ted) Cherry, 1945 and A/B A.E.(Ted) Jones 1944-1945. In a later memoir A/B Jones details the naval command uniform and describes his secondment with the US Army where he was involved in patrols into Sarawak, Brunei and British North Borneo. There are several references to Jones' communication with, and the practices of, the Dayak people. Included also in the collection are copies of photographs of amphibious exercises at Trinity Beach, Queensland 1944-45, RAN commandos in uniform and a copy of the HMAS Manoora newspaper "Buzz" 1 July 1945, Balikpapan. One photograph depicts men of the Royal Australian Navy Beach Commando B on the beach at Tarakan with a pet monkey, the original negative for which is in the Photographs Collection number 018437.