Pleace, Douglas – NX200319
Private Doug Pleace.
Doug Pleace in his 90s.
Like many young men Doug Pleace wasn’t entirely truthful about is age when he enlisted in the Army in 1941. He was only 17.
The minimum enlistment age was 18. He initially served for six months with the 1st Army Transport Unit driving trucks. A few weeks after joining he and others were sent to Adelaide by train to pick up more than 50 two-wheel drive Canadian Maple Leaf trucks and drive them to Darwin. It was May, 1941.
They set out for Darwin via Alice Springs, generally following the overland telegraph line. Beyond Alice Springs the tracks were often just bogs as a result of the wet season, making them impassable for weeks at a time.
The convoy got as far as Birdum, 400 kms south of Darwin, but then had to be put on trains for the rest of the journey.
While in Darwin, Doug was often detailed to pick up fresh vegetables from Adelaide River, a two-day round trip. After five and a half months in Darwin he feared he could be there for the duration of the war.
He wanted to be in the fighting so decided to disclose he was under age. He was sent back to Sydney and discharged. Darwin was bombed a month after he left.
After turning 18, he re-enlisted in March, 1943, this time legally, as a replacement for the 2/33rd Battalion which had suffered heavy loss during the Kokoda campaign. He underwent extensive training on the Atherton Tablelands in preparation for the Lae-Ramu Valley campaign.
He was in Port Moresby for the Liberator crash but, fortunately, missed out on being injured. He was in B Company which was due to be airlifted to Nadzab the day after the disaster.
On the fateful morning of the crash, September 7, he was sleeping in a tent alongside the runway at Jackson’s Airfield where the US Army Air Force bomber attempted to take off at 4.25am, but crashed into the truck convoy filled with A, C and D Company men and parked at the end of the runway.
He never forgot the sound of the massive explosion when two 500lb bombs and 3,000 gallons of fuel detonated on impact.
Doug was in the thick of the fighting in the recapture of Lae and in the Ramu Valley, including the battle for Shaggy Ridge.
He then took part in the final battle of the war, the amphibious invasion of Balikpapan. He was discharged on July 1, 1946. His war service record didn’t take into account his time driving trucks with the 1st Army Transport Unit.
After the war, Doug was a great supporter of the 2/33rd Battalion Association and the 7th Division Association, regularly attending committee meetings as well as attending all reunions and marching on Anzac Day whenever he was able to do so.
He died in 2020 aged 97.