'We were very lucky' It’s just before the Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and 94-year-old Len McLeod is explaining how he used to lie on the floor of a C-47 Dakota, dropping essential supplies to Australian troops in New Guinea during the Second World War. The aircraft were dubbed the “Biscuit Bombers”, and Len would lie on his back, his legs doubled up behind the load, as he waited for the aircrew to give him the ‘green light’ to kick supplies of food and ammunition out of the side of the aircraft. “Being 6 foot tall, I was the tallest, so I always took the ground position,” he said. “And my job … I would lay down, and hang on to the side of the plane on my back with my two feet up, waiting for that bloody green light to go on, and when the green light went on, whoosh, I’d try to push the whole lot out straight, so that it didn’t get jammed or wedged in the door. “We’d stack up as much as we could so that it all went out, one behind the other, straight into the jungle.” Still a boy, Len had enlisted four times during the war; he has four different enlistment numbers, under three different names, and was just 15 years old when he first signed up to join the Australian Imperial Force. “It was just a little bit before I turned 16, and I enlisted a few times,” he said, laughing. “The war had broken out in 1939, and then Singapore fell, and the Japs were rushing down the coast, and into New Guinea. “All my mates were being called up and they were all talking about it … You could volunteer for the AIF overseas or you could stay and be called up for home service, but either way you were in the army, the air force, or the navy. “There was a group of us, and I was still 15 at the time, but all the older ones, the ones who were over 18, were all going in the army, and I found myself on my own… “They were older than me, but I was as tall as them, so I thought I’ll see if I can go with them, so I went along with a few of them down to the recruiting office in Footscray and got in the line with them. “I got thrown out a few times, but I kept going back with different names and one thing and another, until finally I got away.” The youngest child of John and Ruby McLeod, Len was born into a working class family in the western suburbs of Melbourne on 2 June 1926. His father had served on Gallipoli and the Western Front during the First World War, and his mother did not want her youngest son going off to fight in a second. “My father’s [service] number was 35 and he was in the first lot that went to the Middle East,” Len said. “While he was in France, the Germans used the gas, and it affected him after he came home … “I was barely five years old when my father died from the effects of being gassed, and I still remember them taking him to the hospital.” Len lied about his age and enlisted three times before being discovered and later discharged. The fourth time he was more successful. “Every time I went in, they would say how old are you, and I’d say 21, but they would eventually find out and throw me out,” he said. “I left it for several weeks, and went back when a new crew had taken over, and they accepted me, but my mother found out, and she said, ‘That’s it, you’re out.’ “She rang them up after I’d joined, and had me discharged, so I got thrown out again by my own mother.” The fourth time Len was more canny. It was September 1942, Singapore had fallen, Darwin had been bombed, and Japanese midget submarines had entered Sydney Harbour. “I went back to the recruiting officer and they were desperate,” Len said. “Things were getting far more serious for Australia. The country was at the point where it looked like falling … and I could see a lot of trouble ahead. “There was a great line up at every recruiting office with people joining up… and they’d have taken anyone, I reckon … so I filled in the form, and when they said how old are you? I said 22. “Every other time, I’d said 21, but I’d learnt my lesson, so when they asked this time, I said 22. They said go to the next table, and at the next table the doctor said stand up, put your hands above your head, up and out like that, bang, bend down touch your toes … “And that was about it for the medical… They threw me a uniform and within two or three days I was in the camp and then onto a train up to Townsville and Canungra.” -- story continues https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/len-mcleod --
No need for the youth of today in the armed forces ! Only men and women required. Some what difficuilt entering the defence force in this country, as of today. Very selective
2021: Mark Felton releases new video "The surprising involvement of 18 year old Soviet troops in the D-Day Normandy landings"
Yes! I certainly got it! I’m an avid Mark Felton fan. Clearly no Soviet soldiers landed on the beach’s of Normandy in June 1944 as shown in the meme. But in the remotest chance they had, Mark Felton would be the one to have done a video on it at some point. He does the best history videos!
During D-Day, the Germans had an entire Panzer Division (16,000 "recruits") based on 17/18 year olds.... The division was raised and trained in that area of France for just that purpose.
I don’t think there is any doubt that 17 & 18 years and possibly younger fought on either side during the invasion and liberation of Europe in 1944. The issue appears to be the inaccurate use of a photograph of a young Soviet soldier carrying his PSSh-41 burp gun in the meme. None of them on the Western front ….
