Bombing of Darwin 75th anniversary: veteran proud to share Darwin story
ON Christmas morning, 1941, Peter Hackett slipped into a coma as the Ghan pulled into Oodnadatta.It was not the ideal start to his active service as a gunner
Bombing of Darwin
Don't miss out on the headlines from Bombing of Darwin. Followed categories will be added to My News.
ON Christmas morning, 1941, Peter Hackett slipped into a coma as the Ghan pulled into Oodnadatta.
It was not the ideal start to his active service as a gunner.
He was on his way up to the Top End to serve in an anti-aircraft battery formed in Darwin, but on the journey up he got a scratch on one of his fingers.
“This scratch gradually got worse and my hand started to swell up,” Mr Hackett said.
“My temperature was 120 degrees and the next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital in Alice Springs.”
Septicaemia had set in.
“Fortunately one of the guys on the train, who had no medical experience, grabbed some razor blades and boiling water, opened up my hand and got rid of a whole lot of stuff,” Mr Hackett said.
It wasn’t the last time the war would leave a permanent scar on Hackett’s life.
He joined the defence force when he was “just under age” in Fremantle, WA, in September 1940.
It wasn’t long after his training that a draft was formed to go to Darwin.
Ten days after waking from his coma in Alice Springs he arrived in the balmy Top End as one of the older soldiers, at just 19-years-old.
“We did very little training on the guns and a lot of the gunners had never seen a gun before — a lot were just 16 years of age,” Mr Hackett said.
“We were all pretty enthusiastic for sure because we could see what was developing up in Singapore.
“But most of them had no training at all on the heavy guns — a lot of the younger gunners had never heard a shell explode before.”
Mr Hackett served in Darwin until March 1944 when he returned home to Western Australia.
But the years spent scouring the skies for enemies in to the harsh Territory sun took their toll.
“My eyes were sun damaged — but no one knew anything about it til years after the war,” Mr Hackett said.
A specialist in Perth noticed he had a small spot his right eye.
“Eventually he said, ‘I think it looks like a melanoma forming, we’ll have to remove the right eye’,” Mr Hackett said.
His left eye did not form a melanoma, but did succumb to the damage of the wartime sun.
Despite being left with just half of one per cent peripheral vision in his left eye, Mr Hackett still speaks with a zest for life.
After the war he worked for the post office for 30 years before retiring to spend his days fishing and annoying his dear wife Berry in their Port Kennedy home.
At 94-year-old he is one of the few surviving soldiers to defend his country on its own soil — a story his proudly shares to those who care to listen.
■ Get your 56-page Bombing of Darwin commemorative magazine with the Sunday Territorian
Originally published as Bombing of Darwin 75th anniversary: veteran proud to share Darwin story
Nightcliff clinch minor premiership in late surge against Brothers
The Nightcliff Dragons struck late to claim the minor premiership in a thrilling final match of the NRL NT regular season against Darwin Brothers. Relive all the action here.
From enemies to friends: Japanese officer reflects on Bombing of Darwin
As Japanese jets fly across Darwin for Exercise Pitch Black 24, a senior commander reflected on Japanese-Australians and has revealed the quiet visit his troops made to a local memorial. See pictures from the latest air force events.