1941 SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR MY FIRST BIRTHDAY

9th April, 1941  Happy Birthday Anthony John Dixon!
QUEEN MARY DEPARTS SYDNEY HEADS AS QUEEN ELIZABETH ARRIVES
TAKING OUR MEN TO WAR BY THE THOUSANDS

My Mum and Dad had always spoken in awe of the day on which Sydney Harbour hosted all but one of the world's largest Liners QUEEN MARY, QUEEN ELIZABETH, AQUITANIA and ILE DE FRANCE , the French NORMANDIE was still in New York City. It was just as well, because she was so beautiful a sight she would have destroyed the Australian fascination with the grandeur of the British Queens.

The visit of the great liners was "TOP SECRET" but blind Freddy could have told what was a foot when tens of thousands of our troops were massed in readiness fo embarkation. Result? More than 100,000 people lined the Sydney Heads to witness the grand spectacle. So much for secrecy.

But only yesterday, I discovered that the great event took place on my First Birthday - well done military authorities of the time!

NORMANDIE,QUEEN MARY AND QUEEN ELIZABETH
IN NEW YORK HARBOUR

The great Liners could never have justified a trip to Australia before the War - there were insufficient passengers who could afford the lengthy trip in such luxury. But with the commencement of the War, there were ample young ,healthy Australian men who must be shipped off to the far distant War at any expense . The speed of the Liners would not only hasten their arrival, but it would also guarantee safety from all but the luckiest U Boat torpedo shots.The Liners travelled at around 29 Knots and were excused from zig-zagging to avoid torpedoes by virtue of that speed, which was far in excess of anything a U-Boat could muster even on the surface.

The once luxurious fittings of the great Liners were stripped and their proud liveries removed for drab grey and they were crammed with soldiers by the thousands.Extraordinary risks were being taken - on one Atlantic crossing QUEEN MARY carried approx. 18,000 men, she had only 8,000 lifeboat places and rafts etc. and this in the face of the huge U-Boat menace.

What I had not known before yesterday, was that QUEEN MARY had been a regular visitor to Sydney collecting troops. But the special convoy on my birthday was the biggest effort.

Queen Elizabeth had been rushed from her Builder's Yard across the Atlantic to New York City for fitting out lest she should be attacked in the yard whilst being completed. Queen Mary had been repainted and readied for troops in New York and sailed from there to Sydney for the first time on 21st March, 1940 followed a couple of weeks later by Queen Elizabeth.

Sadly, the very beautiful fast and glamorous NORMANDIE caught fire at its berth in New York City in 1942 and a ham-fisted effort at putting out the fire caused her to capsize at the wharf.She was sold as scrap in 1946.

Queen Mary in Sydney Harbour 1941

Anyway, that's the story of my First Birthday - if there was a Cake - I don't know. With War time rationing and my infant ignorance of what was or was not happening, I doubt it!! Do you know what happened on your first birthday?