By Tim Barlass
At the height of the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill famously venerated the achievements of the fighter pilots and bomber crews taking on the German Luftwaffe.
In his parliamentary speech, he sought to galvanise the public by extolling the efforts of their countrymen in the skies above: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Anzac veterans (from left) Brian Barry, Ross Swan and Max Barry.Credit: Louise Kennerley/Steven Siewert
Thankfulness is an ephemeral notion, but sometimes it becomes an emotion perhaps more enduring – gratitude – particularly towards almost 1 million Australians who served during World War II to end the totalitarian dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and repel the threat from Imperial Japan. Now they are so few.
The Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs believes there are between 2500 and 3000 of those World War II servicemen and women still alive. By the end of 2026, the department estimates it is likely to be 800. So few.
This week, this masthead spoke to three veterans who served in the Australian Army, the Australian Navy and the RAAF in Bomber Command. The men have a combined age of 296 years.
‘I could see flames’: Rear gunner Max Barry
Max Barry, from Port Kembla, who turns 100 in June, gave up marching on Anzac Day two years ago. He spent his 20th birthday in June 1944 with two Horlicks tablets and a glass of water, hiding from the Germans in a barn in France.
He was a Lancaster rear gunner in 463 Squadron: “Our aircraft had been to Orleans to bomb railway yards in 1944, and we were on our way home west of Cherbourg. I could see flames coming past on the port side,” he said.
RAAF rear gunner in Bomber Command Max Barry parachuted out of crashing Lancaster bomber.Credit: Louise Kennerley
“I and the mid-upper gunner alerted the pilot. The fire got worse. Other engines packed up. It was obvious we wouldn’t make it to England. The pilot ordered us to bail out and we did. He was unlucky, he didn’t get out himself.
“The [parachute] landing was OK. I could feel branches going past my face. I was in Normandy near Le Mans. I walked north. It was almost a month before I was picked up. I slept in haystacks or barns.”
Air force veteran Max Barry (right) with fellow crew member, bomb aimer Tony Matthews, at Church Broughton, west of Derby, in England.
A farm boy warned him Germans were in the village, and soon after he was picked up. He ended up as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft VII, Bankau, Poland, and later at Luckenwalde in Germany for 11 months before victory was declared.
After the war he worked in agriculture. He and his wife, Ruth, 96, have two daughters.
“A third of the young fellows in Bomber Command died in the air,” he said. “Those young men who died would have been useful in the community had they survived the war.”
‘I never knew whether I’d be alive tomorrow or in five minutes’: Rear Admiral Ross Swan
Rear Admiral Ross Swan, 97, who lives in St Ives on the north shore, is believed to be the last remaining admiral who fought as a young man in the Second World War. “I commanded the smallest ship in the RAN, a harbour defence motor launch, and the largest – the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.”
He joined naval college in 1939 at a time when the training regime was pretty brutal, before going to sea at 17.
Rear Admiral Ross Swan, 97, the last living admiral from WWII.Credit: Steven Siewert
“The word bullying didn’t exist in those days,” he said. “For my initiation I had to push a toothbrush with my nose around the quadrangle while one’s backside was flicked with a towel. Their task was to make men out of boys.”
In HMAS Shropshire in the Philippines he oversaw the starboard barrage site tracing Japanese aircraft approaching. “I can remember distinctly never knowing whether I’d be alive now, tomorrow or in five minutes’ time. The ship was attacked by 150 air raids in a matter of weeks, mainly kamikazes and high-level bombing.
He served in Vietnam on HMAS Hobart and on a minesweeper in Tunisia. He took HMAS Melbourne to the UK in 1977 for the Queen’s silver jubilee. As the royal yacht Britannia went past, Melbourne’s Royal Ensign flag fell down.
Commodore Ross Swan stands on the flight deck of HMAS Melbourne, the Australian aircraft carrier in Portsmouth for the Jubilee fleet review, in 1977.Credit: AP
“After dinner when we were presented to the Queen, somebody had obviously briefed her because she mentioned it. I recall saying something like. ‘Ma’am, Sir Walter Raleigh laid his cloak before the Queen. I laid my ensign.’ She laughed. Prince Philip didn’t.”
‘There were bodies everywhere’: Corporal Brian Barry
Brian Barry, from Mosman, turned 100 in February. He is the oldest living former first-grade referee and a life member of the NSW Rugby League Referees Association. He officiated at hundreds of first-grade games, including five straight grand finals.
Brian Barry, 100, served in New Guinea.Credit: Steven Siewert
“I’ll go to St James station and sit on the wall to watch the march. A lot of our memories come back. I used to have a lot of blokes that marched there in their time and, of course, they’re not there. Now I’m the only one.”
He was a corporal in the 19 Advanced Ordnance Depot serving in New Guinea, support troops to the 6th Division infantry.
The Japanese had occupied the Aitape–Wewak area in northern New Guinea and had held it until April 1944. Later in the year, responsibility for clearing the remaining Japanese troops from the area was passed to the Australians.
Brian Barry as a young soldier.Credit: Steven Siewert
“The Japanese used to fire cannon at us every day,” Barry said. “The shells used to come over the top of us. You are miles away from home, and you think, ‘Can it happen to me?’ You never know whether one day a shell is going to get you.
“On one occasion a Douglas Dakota flying out casualties with about 20 on board crashed after a jeep inside broke free and ran straight down the plane. When it crashed it fell to pieces. It was full of fuel. We went in, but there were bodies everywhere. It was a terrible sight. It still lives in my memory.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.