Winston

Hard Hat Harry Brutnall, 1920–2017 A Ravenshoe farm lad who couldn't read or write until the local priest taught him enough to pass the navy exam. He joined in 1938 with his mate Billy Gladwell, "for the adventure", and was quickly told to say "king and country" instead. In the Caribbean he was the young bloke sent first up the grappling-hook rope with a razor-sharp cutlass, and once stopped an axe-swinging chief engineer with nothing but the flat of the blade. A night pass to court his girlfriend saved his life when a Japanese torpedo meant for USS Chicago sank Kuttabul in 1942. He came back and brought his mates up from the wreck. As a hard hat diver he spent 23 hours straight underwater in Darwin, raised Japanese Zeroes, recovered test torpedoes at Fremantle, and after the war blew the anti-submarine net pillars out of Sydney Harbour. One of the last hard hat clearance divers the navy trained. Then came whaling, salvage and copra out of Rabaul, curries for his mates in Ravenshoe, and leading the Anzac Day parade at 94. He called his memoir "Brutnall's Follies". A good man and a good mate. Lest we forget. #RemembranceDay #LestWeForget #ANZAC

MY GRANDFATHER 💯❤️🇦🇺 The solemn service version is live on your X account. X only lets one draft go out at a time, so the short version is next in line. Say "post it" and it goes up, then I'll do the long one the same way. Posted on X · In Memory of Petty Officer Harry Roland Brutnall, Royal Australian Navy, 1920–2017 Today we remember Harry Brutnall, a country boy from Ravenshoe who gave his youth to the sea and to his country. He could not read or write when he first set his heart on the navy. A local priest taught him, and in August 1938, beside his mate Billy Gladwell, he stepped forward to serve. He saw HMAS Perth commissioned and was at sea when war came. As a young sailor he climbed first onto ships of unknown intent, with only a cutlass in his hand. On the night of 31 May 1942, a torpedo meant for the cruiser USS Chicago struck HMAS Kuttabul, his home, and twenty-one sailors lost their lives. Harry was spared only because he was away that evening. He returned and went down into the dark water to bring his shipmates home. As a hard hat diver he worked where few could follow. He spent long hours beneath Darwin Harbour under threat of attack, recovered enemy aircraft from murky depths, retrieved torpedoes at Fremantle, and after the war cleared the defences of Sydney Harbour. He was among the last of the navy's hard hat clearance divers. He lived a long and generous life, and to the end he marched for those who could not. Harry Brutnall served with courage, humility and good humour, and he never forgot his mates. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him. Lest we forget. #RemembranceDay #LestWeForget #ANZAC Draft X post · Hard Hat Harry Brutnall, 1920–2017 A Ravenshoe farm lad who couldn't read or write until the local priest taught him enough to pass the navy exam. He joined in 1938 with his mate Billy Gladwell, "for the adventure", and was quickly told to say "king and country" instead. In the Caribbean he was the young bloke sent first up the grappling-hook rope with a razor-sharp cutlass, and once stopped an axe-swinging chief engineer with nothing but the flat of the blade. A night pass to court his girlfriend saved his life when a Japanese torpedo meant for USS Chicago sank Kuttabul in 1942. He came back and brought his mates up from the wreck. As a hard hat diver he spent 23 hours straight underwater in Darwin, raised Japanese Zeroes, recovered test torpedoes at Fremantle, and after the war blew the anti-submarine net pillars out of Sydney Harbour. One of the last hard hat clearance divers the navy trained. Then came whaling, salvage and copra out of Rabaul, curries for his mates in Ravenshoe, and leading the Anzac Day parade at 94. He called his memoir "Brutnall's Follies". A good man and a good mate. Lest we forget. #RemembranceDay #LestWeForget #ANZAC