ROBERT STANLEY “BOBBY” THOMPSON
Bobby was the youngest of ten children born to George and Emma Thompson of Brunswick, Victoria. Raised in a close-knit family renowned for their love of music, he shared an unbreakable bond with his older brother, Able Seaman William Raymond “Ray” Thompson, who served on HMAS Sydney II.
The brothers enlisted together at Williamstown on 19 November 1940, receiving consecutive service numbers – Ray W1876 and Bobby W1877. To reassure their anxious mother, they told her they had been posted to different ships and would both return home safely.
That hope was shattered when Ray was lost with HMAS Sydney II on 19 November 1941. Bobby wrote to Ray’s young wife, Rose, who was expecting their first child, promising that when he came home he would help care for her and the baby. Four months later, on 4 March 1942, Bobby was lost when HMAS Yarra fought her final, gallant action in the Indian Ocean.
Years later, Bobby’s sister-in-law, Sheila, recalled visiting his mother after the loss of both sons. She would often find Emma Thompson sitting quietly at the kitchen table, her head in her hands, saying “I’m just waiting for my babies to come home.”
Front: Ray and Bobby
NORMAN HENRY “JIMMY” JAMES
My Dad was ‘Norman Harry James’ known as ‘Jimmy James’ on board ship. He was a Sick Berth Petty Officer and one of the many lives lost of those serving on HMAS Yarra 2 when the ship went down that day.
Norman was born in December 1912 in Williamstown in Victoria not far from the site of the Memorial.
He joined the Navy on the 1st of June 1932 and trained as a Sick Berth Attendant and was posted on the HMAS Yarra 2 in 1938 and remained with the ship until the sinking in 1942.
He was promoted to Petty Officer and was posted to HMAS Cerberus but because of the war situation his replacement was unable to do the change-over so he stayed with the Yarra.
As a young man he was a member of the Williamstown Life Saving Club where he was a beltman.
We never met because Yarra 2 sailed on overseas duty 14 weeks before I was born but in later years I had the good fortune of meeting up with the 13 survivors at the launching of Yarra 3 which was built at Williamstown.
They remembered Norman and told me stories of life on board.
I still treasure and admire his memory.
Barri James
REGINALD LESLIE MANTHEY
Reg was born in Nambour on 13 August 1921. He spent his early years living in Caloundra where he met his wife-to-be, Betty. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Navy and, while on leave in 1943, married Betty Ada Pascoe on 13 November at the age of 22.
On leaving the Navy at the end of the war in June 1946, he returned to Brisbane and lived with Betty’s parents at Constitution Road, Windsor. Times were hard after the war and Reg, being a carpenter, couldn’t find building materials to continue his trade in Brisbane. With his friends Stan and June Marsh, Stan also being a builder, they went west and ended up working in the Cunnamulla area building homesteads and carrying out repairs to station houses. While work was hard, these were also enjoyable times.
In the late 1940s they returned to Brisbane and bought a house in Dan Street, Graceville, where they spent the rest of their lives until illness forced them to shift to Hopebourne.
Reg continued to work as a carpenter, initially for a builder by the name of Rudolph Hoffman and then as a subcontractor, mainly for the Housing Commission. Reg worked hard, spending six days a week building other people’s houses and, on his time off, upgrading their house at Graceville. One of these projects was building an extension purely to house his new snooker table. Over the years they came to make many friends in the area, but unfortunately most of these have now passed on.
While money was tight and it was hard to have time off, Betty and Reg made several trips to Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand with friends. They also liked nothing better than spending weeks at the coast, usually with quite a few visitors.
Due to illness, Reg was forced into retirement at the age of 57, which in some ways was a blessing as it gave him relief from the hard work and allowed him to take up one of his favourite hobbies, lawn bowls.
Unfortunately, 15 years later Betty suffered a severe stroke and, with this added stress, Reg also had a stroke and moved into Hopebourne, where he continued daily to be with his wife. Reg passed away on 10 August 2004.
JACK ANDREW STRANG
Jack Andrew Strang was born on 23 December 1912 and grew up in Carlisle, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The eldest of six children, he had two brothers and three sisters. Before joining the Royal Australian Navy, he worked as a boilermaker.
Jack was married to Marjorie, and although they had no children, service to Australia was a strong tradition within the Strang family. His youngest brother, William, served in the Royal Australian Navy aboard HMAS Manoora, another brother served in the Australian Army, and one sister served in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.
