Rats of Tobruk pay respect to fallen comrades

RATS of Tobruk veteran Jack Caple still vividly recalls enduring eight months of tank attacks, artillery barrages and daily bombings.

Rat of Tobruk war veteran Jack Caple

WITH the Anzac Day centenary approaching, three of the remaining Rats of Tobruk veterans will pay respect to their fallen comrades who did not return to home soil.

World War II veteran Jack Caple, 96, is one who did return and still tells his story vividly when reliving his five long years spent at war.

Mr Caple fought in Tobruk, the battle of El Alamein and the campaign against the Japanese army in Papua New Guinea.

The 1941 Siege of Tobruk began on April 10 and continued until November 27.

For eight months, the soldiers in Tobruk endured tank attacks, artillery barrages and daily bombings.

They suffered from the desert heat, cold nights and unbearable dust storms, sleeping in caves and dugouts. Mr Caple recalled being injured in battle.

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“I was wearing a steel helmet for protection and I remember an exploding shell hitting it,” Mr Caple said.

“All I remember is both my ears bleeding. Both got very badly infected.”

He laughed and pointed to his ears.

“But I’m a bit lucky,” he said.

“I can still hear.”

The soldiers’ bravery, strength, determination, as well as them being forced to live and sleep in caves and dugouts earned them the name Rats of Tobruk.

Jack Caple is one of the remaining Rats of Tobruk veterans.

For Mr Caple, his memories of El Alamein are still very real.

They ate bully beef stew for dinner, and prunes and rice for dessert. As the temperatures soared, the men lived off one bottle of water a day. Many were killed but most were wounded.

Mr Caple often recalls how he saw the body of a fallen soldier and remembers thinking his mother would have been devastated he was missing.

“It’s such a terrible word — missing — because everyone knew that it meant death,” he said.

After the war ended, Mr Caple returned to his home in Warrnambool and married his fiance Shiela.

He now lives at The Classic Residences Brighton East and enjoys a busy social life filling his days with trips to the city and lunches.

“I also speak to children at primary schools about the war and show them photos and my helmet I used to wear,” he said.

With the centenary of Gallipoli approaching, Mr Caple believed Anzac Day was a time for reflection for those “young fellas who didn’t come back”.

“They were deprived of having a life, a family and being loved,” he said.

The veteran considers himself blessed with four children, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

He will be spending Anzac Day at The Rats of Tobruk Association house in Albert Park with his family and fellow remaining Rats, Bob Semple, 94, and Ron Williamson, 96.

Rats of Tobruk veterans Bob Semple, 94, from Essendon and Kew’s Ron Williamson, 96. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The Rats of Tobruk ...

-- was the name given to the garrison who held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps between April and November, 1941.

-- was relieved by the 8th British Army on November 27 after being besieged for 240 days. Soldiers then joined the final defeat of the Axis forces at El Alamein in 1942.

■ The Rats of Tobruk Association house is in Albert Park.