Victorians at War - Oral History Project

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Jo Faulkner joined the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) in 1951 during the Korean War. She signed up for four years and trained at Crib Point, Victoria. Jo lived in the WRANNERY huts onsite at Crib Point Naval Base and remained living there during her service even when she was transferred to work at the Flinders Naval Depot in on HMAS Cerberus. While posted to the depot, Jo was given regular leave to travel into Melbourne every two weeks. On her first leave in town, however, she was very surprised to find that not everyone thought her role in the war effort was appropriate. She describes an incident that occurred just after she had got off a train at Flinders Street Station with a friend. Feeling very proud in her Navy uniform, Jo was waiting for a tram when a 'woman came up and spat at us and mumbled something and then walked away'.
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Glen James was an apprentice carpenter and joiner when he was conscripted into military service to fight in Vietnam at the age of 20. As a field engineer in Vietnam, Glen's job was 'delousing booby traps, blowing up mines, blowing up bunker systems, delousing mines on bridges and tracks'. On patrol, Glen spent six to eight weeks in the jungle with only a few days rest in between. Life in the jungle was difficult and dangerous for all the soldiers. After a tour of duty lasting a year, Glen was very happy to get home to see his family again. When the plane he was travelling home in was about to land at Sydney airport, everyone on board shouted for joy. As Glen described the experience, 'there was just… I don't think I have been anywhere in my whole life, apart from a grand final, a grand final, where there has been so much noise in a plane when the wheels hit the deck.' The men were very relived to have made it home - they even received free beer to celebrate on the plane!
Hear complete interviews with veterans in the "Personal Stories" section of the Archives