6 Heavy Anti-aircraft Battery, 2/2nd HAA Regiment. in Australia during WW2

A 17 year old Terry Sullivan signed up to join the Army at the Exhibition Grounds in Brisbane on 25 June 1942. He slept on the floor of a building at St. Laurence's College on his first night in the Army. The College had been commandeered by the Army and was used as Headquarters for Brisbane Fortress Command. His group then moved to Camp Tabragalba near Beaudesert, where they completed 6 weeks of basic training.

Terry Sullivan was then allocated to 6 Battery HAA at Colmslie near the Brisbane River. He described the location of the battery as being at a location down the end of a road running down from the Cannon Hill Shopping Centre that heads straight for the Brisbane River. You go across a railway line and he thought it may have been in a park area.

As part of their training 6 Battery HAA would drag the 3" guns from Archerfield Airfield Battery up to Currumundi Beach on the Sunshine Coast and fire at drogues towed on long ropes behind aircraft that would fly over the area.

Members of 6 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery. Terry Sullivan is on far right in the front row.

Men of "A" Troop, 2/6 HAA, 2/3rd Composite AA
Regiment at Strathpine in March 1945. Terry Sullivan
was not in the photo as he was on pre-embarkation
leave before going to Morotai.

Back Row: Blakeman, Billingham, MacKenzie, Mayberry, Caffrey, Seccombe H., Taylor, K. Smith, Trainor, A. White, Campbell, Sanders, Nuttall, Langsford, Thompson, Ballard, Langdon, Hill, Hope, McGuren, Gunn

4th Row: McCann, Evans, Hayes, Simmonds, McDermott, Cassidy, Davies, Dalmazzo, Morrison, Fogarty, Kayser, Spencer, Kilpatrick, Sterry, Howe, J. Morgan, Lundie, Grant, T. Wilson, Anderson, Telford, Williamson

3rd Row: De Graves, Lloyd, Dunn, Cuttriss, W. White, Ferguson, James, W. Davies, Bunn, Wright, Christoe, Symons, Peterson, Cusack, McPhee?, Hogan, Nolan

2nd Row: Bushell, Harmer, Hammonds, Spence, Symons, Wittick, Gordon, Meckiff, Lee, McNeil, McConchie, Henley, Mitchell, Irving, Knight, Moran, Steer, Kendall, W. Ferguson, Burch

Front Row: N. Wilson, Rudd, Budd, Dougall, Howells, Carter, Cardillo, O'Hara, Williams, Faulkiner, Mears, Evans, M. Davies, Hamilton, J.S. Sherwood, Agg, McNaughton

Terry said that the US Flying Boats used to land near them and moor upstream of their location. He thought there may have only been 2 guns at Colmslie while he was there. Their Headquarters was located somewhere at Corinda, possibly in Donaldson Street. Their Commanding Officer was Major Tony Steinl, and the 2IC was Captain Douglas.

Terry's group spent a week at the Balmoral Heavy Anti-aircraft Battery before they moved to New Guinea in 1943.

Terry later told me in a letter that his group embarked from Brisbane on the Liberty Ship "Sea Spray" on 10 April 1945 and disembarked at Morotai on 22 April 1945.

I'd like to thank Terry Sullivan of 6 Battery HAA for his assistance with this home page.

Disclaimer

Click here to E-Mail me
any information or photographs

Australia @ War
Available on CD-Rom

Peter Dunn's
AUSTRALIA @ WAR
WWW.OZATWAR.COM

Do you need a holiday!
Sun, surf, beautiful beaches and lots more!

Genealogy Software
190 Mbytes of Genealogy Indexes & Programs