“There was rain and mud and the rattle of guns, planes roared off to unknown targets and others returned skidding along the greasy metal strip. There were pilchards and songs, bogged trucks, more rain, ack-ack guns, mosquitos and the threat of death. Men worked ceaselessly day and night. I was pretty anxious at times despite my Red Cross card! From all this there emerged a tremendous united effort. Our lives depended on the army and we knew it. We were camped side by side sharing it all together. It seemed as if was all highly disorganised, but it wasn’t. Major General Clowes and his staff knew what they were doing”.
This extract from Doctor Bill Deane-Butcher’s book Fighter Squadron Doctor is a very vivid description of the battles for Port Moresby and Milne Bay in 1942, and in particular, from a man who witnessed it all and survived.
Here is former Warwick resident Bill Deane-Butcher’s story, of a remarkable man who survived the dangers and harsh conditions of New Guinea from 1942 to 1943.
William Deane-Butcher was born on 24 December 1913 at Pittsworth, Queensland. He was the second son of Charles and Margaret Deane-Butcher and brother to James, Betty and Jean. His father was a medical doctor who had migrated to Australia to recover from a bout of tuberculosis and settled in Hay, New South Wales where it was thought the drier climate would help his condition.
The family relocated to Warwick in 1911, two years before William was born. William did his primary education at Scots College Warwick before continuing his secondary education at Scots College in Sydney, where he excelled in study and was elected a Prefect. He was an officer in the cadet corps, and played in the First XV Rugby team. Like his father, William wanted to study medicine and after graduation from Scots, won a place at Sydney University.
After graduating in medicine, William worked at Royal Prince Albert Hospital where he met a young nurse named Stella Brooks (known as Elizabeth) and they married in St Mark’s Church, Darling Point in January 1940, just as the war in the pacific was about start.
Influenced by the Prime Minister John Curtin that this was Australia’s “gravest hour”, Bill decided to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force as a medical officer and worked in the Brisbane Recruiting Centre for about 12 months before a posting to Archerfield’s Flying Training School.
It was here that Bill heard about the newly formed RAAF’s 75 Squadron flying the newly acquired Kittyhawk fighter aircraft. Filled with trepidation about leaving his young wife Elizabeth and daughter, Bill applied for the position of medical officer to 75 Squadron and embarked for Port Moresby. Once appointed, Bill was flown by Catalina aircraft, via Townsville, on 17 March 1942 and arrived on 21 March 1942, to a situation he never dreamed of.
Bill was now faced with all the medical conditions one would find in the tropics which was a real awakening to his earlier medical experiences.
Positioned in a make shift tent surgery, Bill was responsible for the men who suffered from malaria to tropical ulcers, dysentery, skin infections insect bites. He had to spend time in harsh slit trenches when the air raid siren sounded and always was covered in leaches, tics, and other of the New Guinea’s biting insects as well as mud and drenching, incessant rain.
Apart from treating pilot injuries, he had to maintain the unit’s hygiene requirements, autopsies, and burials. The introduction at the start of this story is a better description of the combat situation involving the squadron and Bill was an integral part of it. He describes it near the end of his days in Port Moresby when he wrote it in his book:
“The advent of 75 Squadron in those dreadful days of early 1942 was in retrospect a monumental event. To a garrison in the depths of a “you can’t win” depression, the arrival of 75 brought hope and resolution. I was there and could feel the resurgence of confidence after weeks of battering by an unopposed Japanese air force and the onward march of the Japanese army into Rabaul; then, through New Britain and on to the north coast of Papua and New Guinea. 75’s fighting successes later aided by 76, were the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the defeat of the Japanese invasion of New Guinea”.
Suffering from malaria and other ailments, Bill applied for a posting back to Australia and was sent home to RAAF East Sale, where the cooler weather was a relief from the discomfort of the tropics.
After completing a posting to Canada Bill took his discharge from the RAAF on 23 October 1945, and set out to continue his medical career in an environment much different than what he had experienced in Port Moresby. He applied for post-graduate study at Sydney University in ophthalmology, with a major study in corneal diseases. He eventually became a pioneer in contact lenses and the establishment of transplants at the Sydney eye hospital, and from 1949 to 1974 was Honorary Ophthalmic Surgeon there. He was also appointed honorary doctor to Queen Elizabeth during her Royal Tour here, just as his grand- father, William Deane-Butcher, was honorary physician to Queen Victoria when she stayed at Windsor Castle. Quite an impressive record.
The city of Warwick can be justly proud of the contribution the Deane-Butcher family have made in the Warwick district and beyond.
Charles, a doctor came to Warwick in 1911 and practiced at a surgery on the corner of Albion and Percy streets for many years and all his children were successful in education and other pursuits.
Charles served on many boards and committees in his spare time. However, his son William became a war hero in the battle fields of New Guinea, then reached the highest level in his medical career. He suffered for many years, like many military men of the New Guinea campaigns, but he did not let this affect his work as an ophthalmic surgeon. He continued in the Air Force Reserve during the Vietnam War and was made an honorary Group Captain. He was also Chairman of Ophthalmic Societies from 1955 to 1977.
William Deane-Butcher led a life of very high achievements in both military and professional pursuits, and after reading his story, I was convinced that he was a man of courage, commitment and dedication in his wartime work with 75 Squadron. Here, it was demonstrated by his compassion for his colleagues and patients, all that is enshrined in the true spirit of Anzac. In his profession as an eye surgeon, he gave his all, even in his later life with poor sight he continued to serve his patients
On 16 March 2006, Bill passed away at the age of 93 at Turramurra, Sydney, a true hero of Australia and should always be remembered in any Anzac history.
