Brookfield WWII veterans remember fallen mates on Remembrance Day

Carinity Brookfield Green residents Don Smith and Brian Beames both served in World War II – on different sides of the world.

Today the world stops to remember those who have died in wars, and for two veterans at Carinity’s Brookfield Green it will be especially poignant.

Don Smith and Brian Beames both served in World War II – one on the ground and one at sea and on different sides of the world.

Now both 95 years old and living at the Carinity Brookfield Green aged care
community, Don and Brian were teenagers when the second world war
started. Don served as a non-combatant engine fitter with the United Kingdom Royal Air Force, working on machinery including the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine dubbed “the engine that won World War II”.

The engine powered British bombers and speedy fighter planes which played key roles in several pivotal conflicts including in Germany’s defeat in the Battle of Britain.

While Don didn’t see active combat, he was severely impacted by war in his
homeland of England.


“Living in the east end of London it was a very vulnerable place and the
Germans smashed it up when they started the bombing. Forty-five percent of the houses were gone. That was the worst of the war for me,” Don recalls.

Brian Beames served on the Royal Australian Navy World War II vessel the HMAS Lithgow.

Brian spent four years as a Navigational Technician in the Royal Australian
Navy on vessels like the HMAS Lithgow, which located German mines and
took part in the destruction of Japanese minelaying submarines.


He served on the waters off Australia, Papua New Guinea and Japan, where
he saw the devastating aftermath of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.

Brian Beames holds a photo of himself taken during World War II


“Serving in the war was just something that you had to do. There was nothing startling about it. You didn’t ask questions or query it, you just got in and did it. That’s what all military people did,” Brian explains.


“We were so lucky in Australia because we went so very close to flying the
Japanese flag here.”

Brian and Don lost many friends during the war, who they solemnly
remember today.


“A good mate of mine, we grew up together in Ipswich and he decided to
join the Army. He got killed in the Solomon Islands,” Brian said.

Don says it’s “impossible to impart to younger generations what war is like”.
“You watch war on the films; it’s nothing like that. You’re thinking, ‘Is this my last moment?’, because you’re really frightened. You’ve never been so
scared.”


“My brothers were injured and captured and we didn’t hear from them. We
thought they were gone, dead, and you always had that on your mind. The
parents and the families were always unhappy… thinking they weren’t going to see their loved ones again.”

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