TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
CHUCK MEYER (USA)
REDCLIFFE QUEENSLAND STORIES 2005
Interviewer not known
Tape 2 (Videotape)
Side A – Pages 01 – 02
SIDE ‘A’
Chuck Hello. I’m Chuck Meyer. I’m a US Navy Veteran from World War II and I’ve been asked
to give my views about what it was like in Australia in 1942 when I first got there.
We’re right now in Norfolk, Virginia, and this is the home to the world’s largest Navy base
and I retired here after twenty-one years of service. I like it in this area; it’s similar to
Brisbane, Australia where we have seasons – a little bit opposite to yours but basically we
still have Spring and Winters and so on and so forth.
I joined the Navy in 1942 at the age of 17 years old. I volunteered for the Submarine
Veterans, Submarine Service I should say, and I was assigned right away to a submarine
tender, the USS ‘Fulton’.
We sailed shortly after I went aboard and went to Pearl Harbour and we arrived there
three months after the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbour and the destruction was still
very apparent. There was still oil all over the water and there were ships sunk. There
were all kinds of problems with the shops and so on over there and our ship was given the
assignment to assist in repairs of the base as well as the sunken ships and submarines.
In June of 1942 the ‘Fulton’ was sent on a rescue mission to Midway Island to rescue the
survivors of the USS ‘York Town’ CB5. During that mission we took aboard 2000 men
from the sunken aircraft carrier and brought them back to Pearl Harbour.
In November of 1943 we were ordered to Australia and came into Brisbane in November.
We tied up at the New Farm Wharf and started tending all of our fleet submarines at that
time.
One of the tasks that I had was a relief crewmember on the submarines and we worked
from the piers and from the ship. Later on in 1943 I was given an assignment to go to
Redcliffe, Queensland, to open up a submarine rest camp. I had a crew of 24 men and we
were given the task of rehabilitating a hotel there, the Seabrae Hotel. It had 124 rooms in
it and it had been closed for quite some time.
In order to meet the requirements of our Government we had to install a fire mains system
and some other auxiliaries before we could allow our sailors to go there. The submarine
rest camp was for enlisted submarine sailors who had been on patrol in enemy waters for
over 60 days for most of them, and their time at sea was very limited as to what they could
do, really get up and get any fresh air on the ship.
At the time of War the boats became very stressful for these men. They operated at night
on the surface to recharge their batteries, and during the daylight hours most of the time
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they were submerged, so they never got to see any sun. Also living conditions aboard the
submarines was very rough. They had to share bunks and what we call ‘hop-bunking’ and
they were not the greatest living facilities, so when they got down to the Seabrae, which
was a fine hotel located right on the beaches at Redcliffe, we had a lot of facilities there for
them.
The hotel offered dances on the weekends. The local girls would come and they would
have dinner and dances and other recreational facilities. The local area, the townspeople
were great. We had a movie we could go to and I recall the movies having long beach
chairs for you to sit in. You sort of laid back in these canvas chairs and enjoyed the movie.
The town also had a roller rink and we had restaurants and things we could go to and it
was great.
There wasn’t a lot of time for romance between the sailors and the girls because they were
only there for a week or two at the most, but they loved the people there and the girls
especially became good pen pals with the guys and they enjoyed receiving the letters and
the packages that these young ladies would send to them.
I guess one of the biggest impressions I have of the area was the people. The people were
just so gracious. They welcomed the sailors with open arms and they took us into their
homes. They fed us meals and we used to sit and chat a lot with them, and these people
were so nice and they were interested, not only in what we were doing but about where we
came from; what kind of town did we come from in the USA, what schools did we go to,
how far in school did we go, what sports did we do in school. They wanted to know about
our families, brothers and sisters and did we have anyone else in the Service and where
were they serving?
They wanted to know also about our girlfriends. They wanted to see a picture; if you had a
picture of your mother, your father, your girlfriend or brothers they wanted to see these.
At the same time they were extremely proud of their men, their fathers, their brothers and
their relatives in the Armed Forces. Many of those members of their Armed Forces had
served in the Middle East and all through Europe and so they were very proud of all of
this.
The people were so generous to us. They made life really comfortable for all of our
sailors, not only the sub sailors but for everybody who came there and we got along great
with the people. I think the people of Redcliffe just went out of their way to make certain
that we enjoyed our stay. The whole affair for the time I spent in Australia was wonderful.
I enjoyed every bit of it and I have nothing but fond memories; fond memories of the area,
fond memories of the people and their cooperation with us in helping us set up the hotel
and do the other things we did. I’ve got to hand it to them; they were wonderful people
and I thank all of you and it was my pleasure to serve there over sixty-two years ago.
Thank you all.
End of Tape
Transcribed 19 September 2005
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