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Anzac Day is a time to remember those who have served their country, in the past, present, and future.
Today, the Lithgow Mercury is honoured to share the story of local man Lt. Arthur Hanmer who served his country heroically World War II.
PERHAPS one of Lithgow's most honoured WW2 heroes, Lt. Arthur Hanmer was part of major offensive operations throughout the war and contributed to some of the allies most important victories.
Lt. Hanmer was born in Lithgow and educated at Lithgow High School, eventually leaving to take up a position as a clerk in the Lithgow Valley Colliery Office.
He then enlisted for war service in the R.A.A.F. in January 1942 and went to Bradfield Park for his initial training, soon moving to Parkes for a wireless course and then to Port Pirie in South Australia to learn aerial gunnery.
For a time he was posted to Cootamundra as an instructor in wireless courses.
In 1943 he went overseas and spent six months in the United States in Boston before heading off to Bournemouth in England.
From there he transferred to West Freugh in Scotland for northern hemisphere conditioning.
Later at Harwell, the present site of Britain's secret atomic research centre, Lt. Hanmer completed his operational training in two engine Wellington bombers and there met and married his wife, Connie Slater, who was a corporal in the W.A.A.F. Catering section.
Much travelled as a flight sergeant by 1944 Mr Hanmer was attached to the R.A.F. and went to India, spending some time in Bombay before going on to Poona for advanced operational training in Wellington and tropical conditioning.
This was followed by a complete change at Kolar, in central India, where his group switched to American equipment and he was promoted to Warrant Officer, flying as a crewman aboard a Liberator aircraft.
After months of further training the handful of Australians in the group joined No. 355 Squadron of the R.A.F. and went into action performing daylight bombing runs on Japanese installations and communications in Burma, Siam and Thailand.
Lt. Hanmer, as a Warrant Officer, then took part in the increasing offensive against enemy drones and installations of the Japanese Imperial Army as part of the British 14th Army, then commanded by General Slim, now known as Field Marshal Sir William Slim, who launched their own D-Day invasion to re-capture Rangoon and push the forces of Nippon from their Burma strongholds.
In the land, air and sea battle Lt Hanmer took part in numerous raids to destroy enemy aircraft gun sites before going on to No. 159 R.A.F. Squadron , the Pathfinders, whose job it was to seek out enemy targets then pinpoint them by low level bombing so that they could be clearly defined for other bomber squadrons following them.
Up until then there had been little aerial activity during the monsoons, but as the war in Burma intensified the bombers flew in terrible weather with comparatively small loss and reasonably few casualties.
They were assisted by the advance of the 14th Army which took a number of small islands on which bombers were able to land when in difficulty.
Lt. Hanmer's closest call came during a vengeance raid on the BurmaThailand railway.
The bomber in which Mr Hanmer was aboard received heavy ground fire from .5 cannon shells.
The pilot managed to keep the aircraft on target until a cannon shell found a vulnerable point and exploded, shattering the hydraulic system.
While the aircraft limped home with the prospect of either ditching their plane or attempting a belly landing, the engineer stripped all of the tire rubber tubes from the onboard oxygen masks and linked them together, fashioning an improvised hydraulic line from the main pump enabling the plane to once more operate with its flaps and wheels.
Lt Hanmer was recommended for his commission while with the 355 Squadron and the promotion came through while he was serving with the Pathfinders.
When General Slim's 14th Army, in which Windgate's Chindit commandos were making a famous name for themselves was driving back the Japanese forces, the Australians with 159 R.A.F. Squadron were in the vanguard of an operational group of four British and two American squadrons blasting the main rail line in Bangkok and destroying the railway terminus' in night raids.
One of the squadrons' finest moments was when the 14th Army called on airmen for a special effort in 1944.
At the time the British forces had reached a point south of Ramree Island on the Burma coast and their advance had been held up by a heavy concentration of Japanese troops securely entrenched in a commanding position on a mountain; fortified with heavy machine guns, mortars and artillery.
Lt. Hanmer was aboard one of the Pathfinder aircraft which took off for the mountain and signalled the release of nine 500 pounder bombs toward the enemy fortifications.
Following the Japanese surrender, Lt. Hanmer moved on to a holding camp where he met another Lithgow airman and former Lithgow Mercury employee, Mr Jack Spence (now of Wollongong).
Lt. Hanmer soon returned to Australia in January 1946 and met another school mate, Mr Bill Shorney, who had been a prisoner of war in the Malayan campaign.
It was then by comparing notes they discovered that while Lt Hanmer was busy bombing one particular bridge in the Burma-Thailand railway, Mr Shorney was being held below the bridge, huddled in a corner for protection, cheering every hit.