General News
21 August, 2023
Mary Randell Dishon
Mary Randell Dishon was born in Tarnagulla on January 21 1926. Mary was the daughter of William Ladyman Dishon, aged 42, and Florence 'Florrie' May Dishon (née Randell), 35, of Edenhope. Mary had five siblings: William 'Bill', Laught, Len...
Mary Randell Dishon was born in Tarnagulla on January 21 1926.
Mary was the daughter of William Ladyman Dishon, aged 42, and Florence 'Florrie' May Dishon (née Randell), 35, of Edenhope.
Mary had five siblings: William 'Bill', Laught, Len, Frederick (deceased) and Isobel (deceased).
She served with Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS), enlisting on March 4 1944.
Mary’s service number was VF515307 and she was a private.
While serving with the ACMF 4 Base Ordnance Depot (4 BOD), Australian Women's Army Service, Mary died suddenly in Heidelberg Military Hospital, Melbourne, on the night of May 21 1944.
She was 18 years old and suffering from a septic toe.
Mary's funeral service was held in the Chapel of B Matthew Pty Ltd, 102 Toorak Road, South Yarra, on May 24.
She was buried in the Springvale War Cemetery, in grave 1RA15.
Mary is honoured in Canberra on the Australian War Memorial roll of honour, where her name is located on panel 96 in the commemorative area.
She is also commemorated on the Western Australian War Memorials Returned Service Memorial in Kings Park, Perth.
SUBHEAD Springvale War Cemetery
During the early months of World War II land was set apart for service burials in the Melbourne area.
The Springvale War Cemetery holds the graves of many who died of wounds in the Heidelberg Military Hospital after returning from operational areas, and others who died from accidents or sickness.
Springvale War Cemetery contains 607 World War II Commonwealth burials and four Dutch war burials.
The war cemetery is within the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, which itself contains around 50 World War I burials and almost 90 from World War II.
Also within the necropolis is the Springvale Crematorium, where more than 60 World War II servicemen whose remains were cremated are commemorated.
SUBHEAD Australian Army Ordnance Corps
The Australian Army Ordnance Corps (AAOC) in the World War II supplied the army with the materials it needed to live, move and fight.
AAOC supplied ammunition as well as non-consumable items for which the receiver was accountable.
These include weapons, munitions and vehicles as well as tents, knives and forks, clothing and spare parts to maintain vehicles and equipment.
When US servicemen came to Australia after the bombing of Darwin the main problem of the USAFIA Ordnance officer was manpower – "first, last, and always".
To supply ordnance service at far-flung installations on the rim of the island continent stretched AAOC resources to the utmost.
By March 3 1942, the USAFIA commander had established six base sections at Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Soon afterward, a seventh base was added at Sydney.
Acting as service commands and communications zones, the base sections received, assembled and forwarded all US troops and supplies and operated ports and military installations.
Ordnance service centres included not only storage (wholesale and retail) but maintenance shops where a great deal of reclamation and salvage work was done and everything possible was saved from wrecked equipment, put into serviceable condition and reissued.
Moreover, the centres became staging areas for ordnance troops and supplies that arrived direct from port instead of moving through a general staging area.
When ordnance troops came off ships and they could be put to work at the centre if their equipment had not come with them, as was often the case.
Australian factories, shops and other possible sources of supply were found to provide a plentiful supply of cleaning and preserving materials, lumber, paints and oils, gas for welding, and fire-fighting equipment; some standard motor parts; and a limited supply of abrasives, cloth and waste, tool steel, and maintenance equipment and tools.
Moreover, the Australians were able to manufacture some standard items of ordnance equipment such as link-loading machines for .30-calibre and .50-calibre ammunition, arming wires and bomb fin retaining rings, leather pistol holsters and rifle slings, machine gun water chests, and cleaning rods and brushes for machine guns and ramrods for larger weapons.
The USAFIA Ordnance Section designed many items and adapted others and accepted for their own use by the Australians to fit US Army requirements.
Jib cranes were developed to allow the handling of bombs from railway cars to trucks and at the depots; a scout car for line of communications units was modified by fitting a light armoured body on the chassis of small Canadian trucks evacuated from the Netherlands Indies.
A rapid automatic link loader for machine guns was copied from a US Navy model and manufactured in Australia.
Depots and shops began to operate with some degree of efficiency, especially in the Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney areas.