OUR HEROES – THEIR STORIES

NX88133 Ian “Snowy” King was born in Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital on November 13, 1924, the youngest of three children of Norah and Matthias King. The family was living at Dee Why, but moved to North Bondi where Ian lost his mother at a young age to breast cancer.

His eldest sister, Meg, although only 12, became Ian’s de facto mother. During his teenage years Ian developed a fascination for aeroplanes and flying, which got him into trouble when he wagged school on March 30, 1938, to watch the arrival at Mascot Airport of a De Haviland Comet during its record breaking flight from London to New Zealand. Ian, then 13, was photographed with the pilot, Flying Officer Cloustom.

Unfortunately for Ian the photograph appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald and came to the attention of his unimpressed father and school headmaster.

When war broke out Ian had an office job with a company that sold aircraft spare parts and regularly dealt with the priest in charge of a Catholic Mission in Madang, in New Guinea.

Ian was underage when he applied to join the Army. Part of his cover story was that he was born in Kavieng which at the time was occupied by the Japanese, making it impossible for anyone to obtain his birth certificate. Luck always played a part in his Army career.

The recruitment sergeant said: “Who is the priest in charge of the Catholic Mission at Madang?” The correct answer got Ian into the Army on February 10, 1942, five days before the fall of Singapore. When he went into recruit training at Dubbo he discovered most of the recruits had lied about their age. The youngest, Gordon Beadmore, had admitted to being “15 and a bit”. King was only 17.

He was in training for nearly a year before he joined the 2/33rd Battalion in February, 1943. He served in three campaigns, Lae, Ramu Valley and Balikpapan. Luck was again on his side during the Liberator crash. A 500lb bomb from the Liberator came to rest against the truck he was in, but it didn’t explode.

He was seriously wounded in the leg seven days later on the road to Lae when B Company was engaged in a life-and-death battle with heavily entrenched Japanese in the Markham Valley. He was one of nine privates wounded in the action in which an officer and four NCO’s were also wounded, and two N.C.O.s killed.

Luck was again with him. His leg wound was so serious he couldn’t move to take cover. Noticing his plight, a mate, Private Reg Harris, hoisted Ian onto his shoulders and carried him to safety.

Ian had two-and-a-half years of frontline service. The war ended three months short of his 21st birthday which he celebrated waiting on a wharf in Borneo for a ship to bring him home. Like many veterans he was unsettled after the war and returned to New Guinea where he had a number of jobs over a period of 12 years, including managing a copra plantation, which he was doing when he met and married his wife, Joan, a nurse.

They were married for 60 years and had three children. They lived for a while at Doonside, but then settled on acreage at Kellyville, in western Sydney. Ian and Joan travelled extensively around Australia before fractures in accidental falls prevented Ian from driving.

His favourite day of the year was always Anzac Day when he caught up with his mates and proudly marched behind the 2/33rd banner. Anzac biscuits were among his favourites.

Ian worked tirelessly for the Battalion Association. He was very proud to be association president for a number of years and editor of Mud & Blood, for which he wrote numerous articles over the years. Ian died in 2018, aged 94. At his funeral the coffin was carried into the Chapel to the tune Sussex By The Sea, the Battalion marching song. He was farewelled with the playing of The Last Post.