Mission over for US sailor

A FORMER American Coast Guard officer had an emotional visit to Bass Point on Sunday

Lieutenant Commander (ret) Kent E. Fisher was instrumental in locating the remaining crewmembers of the ill-fated US tanker Cities Service Boston which ran aground at Bass Point in 1943.

He attended this years memorial service as special guest of honour, bringing closure to a mission that embraced some 20 years of his life.

This year marks the 63rd anniversary of the South Coasts most tragic wartime shipping incident in which four Australian soldiers lost their lives while rescuing all 62 American seamen from the stricken ship after it hit the rocks in a violent storm in the early hours of the morning of May 16, 1943.

After swimming into the rough seas to recover a rope cast from the ship, the rescuers from the 6th Machine Gun Battalion (AIF), rigged a bosuns chair and brought the servicemen ashore one by one.

As the last rescue of the day was being completed, a giant wave struck a group of 10 Australian soldiers and sailors working on the rope.

Three were rescued, three managed to get ashore, but four disappeared in the water.

Each year, on the third Sunday in May, a special service is held to commemorate the tragedy in which Sgt William Allen, and Privates Geoffrey Pitt, Raymond Snell and Bruce Simmons died.

The remaining rescuers, Frank Norton, Bill Wells and Mick Wilkinson, their families, members of Shellharbour City Council and the community joined with Mr Fisher last Sunday to pay tribute to the four soldiers who lost their lives.

His mission

Mr Fisher made it his mission in 1986 to locate the surviving American servicemen from the Cities Service Boston.

This year he was finally able to make his own pilgrimage to the memorial service.

Todays commemoration has been an emotional occasion for me.

It completes a journey I started 20 years ago, said Mr Fisher.

On that journey I have made many Australian friendships which will last a lifetime.

To be here on the spot where the Cities Service Boston ran aground all those years ago, with some of the men who were involved in the rescue, is a moving experience.

Shellharbour City Council now organises the memorial on behalf of the rescuers.

We welcome Lt Cmdr Fisher and extend our thanks to him for all his efforts in locating the American survivors of this incident, said Shellharbour City Mayor Cr David Hamilton.

We want to ensure that the tradition of this memorial can be continued for many years to come.