InterCultural Consulting Group ( Australia)
  • InterCultural Consulting Group ( Australia)
  • ICG Store
  • ICG Touring
  • Stories of the Somme
  • Memories of Vignacourt
  • Anzac Day 2018
  • Anzac Tour 2016
  • Photos in the Attic
  • WYPF 2016
  • ICG Education and Industry
  • A Hiroshima Survivor - one man's story !
  • Anzac Day Experience 2015
  • Anzac Day 2015
  • Previous activities and tours with ICG.
  • Hiroshima Day Tour August 2015
  • Vignacourt Ambassador Blog
  • Anzac tour 2013 highlights
  • Sample tour Itineries
  • Western Front Blog 2014
  • British Commonwealth Occupation Forces
  • Hiroshima International College
  • Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- a quest for Peace. 2013
  • 90 Years lost
  • Autumn tour September 2014
  • Koyudo Brushes - Kumano Cho
  • Cherry Blossom Tour April 2012 highlights
  • Peace Educational Resources
  • ICG Travel Blog
  • Blog

Australian Guard of Honor at Kure

Picture
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, BCOF comprised about 40,000 personnel, equal to about 25% of the number of US military personnel in Japan.

While US forces were responsible for military government, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarisation and the disposal of Japan's war industries.[1] BCOF was also responsible for occupation of the western prefectures of Shimane, Yamaguchi, Tottori, Okayama, Hiroshima and Shikoku Island. They were also supported by the Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma). BCOF headquarters was at Kure.

For most of the occupation period Australia contributed the majority of the BCOF's personnel. The initial BCOF presence included the Australian 34th Brigade, the 9th Brigade, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (J Force), and BRINDIV, a British/Indian division of two brigade groups, the British 5th Infantry Brigade Group (from 2nd Infantry Division in India), and the 268th Indian Infantry Brigade. Major General David Cowan commanded BRINJAP Division from 1945 to 1947. The position of commanding officer was always filled by Australians: Lt Gen. John Northcott, February to June 1946; Lt Gen. Horace Robertson, June 1946 to November 1951, and; Lt Gen. William Bridgeford from November 1951 until the end of the occupation.
(Source-Wikipedia   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ )


One Man's Story.......

Picture
Daniel Patrick Crane was born on the 30th January 1924.  KIng George V ruled the British Empire. Stanley Bruce was Australian Prime Minister. Dan grew up in suburban Buranda in Brisbane. He did not have a full education and gained work as a packer.
On the 20th February  1942 at the age of 18 years old he enlisted for Military service at Annerley in Brisbane  and was stationed with  the 15th Battalion. 
After enlistment, Dan trained in Boggabilla and found himself  involved with anti aircraft artillery and was graded as a Group 3 Gun Layer  The gun layer had to sit on the seat and he had to watch the dial for directional firing. And, of course, there were the other positions such as loading also. On the 25th July 1943 he embarked from Townsville on the Duntroon and found himself in Port Moresby.
In January 1943 the Battalion had gone to New Guinea to take part in the Salamaua and Lae campaigns and did not return to Brisbane until July 1944. In November it was sent to fight in Bougainville. The Battalion finally returned home in January 1946
He took part in various actions in New Guinea and in March 1943 returned to Townsville on the SS Taroona. He was reassigned  to a training contingent at Cunungra and finally as the war was coming to an end in the Pacific took up positions with Brisbane Base watercraft workshops that were occupied with maintaining transport ships. Many of these groups had service in New Guinea.
Dan remained in Brisbane in this new role until he was transferred from the Artillery regiment  to the 195 Australian Supply Depot and he stayed there until February 1946.

Life was about to take another change in direction for young Dan though.
Just  6 months  previously on the 6th August 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and 3 days later a similar fate for Nagasaki in Japan . The war in the Pacific was over finally.
 By February 1946 the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OCUPATION FORCES  had been mobilised and Dan was again reassigned to the 16th Infantry Training Brigade and on the 30th April  1946 he embarked on the Manoora from Sydney for Kure city in Japan. It was here in this far off land that Dan and his fellow soldiers took on a new role.
Dan was now a member of the BCOF ( British Commonwelath Occupation Forces) He was now reassigned yet again to the 34th Brigade  A Field Battery RAA and spent time in Kure, Hiroshima, Kaitachi, Hiro and Tokyo .Some of his duty was ceremonial but also assisting with rebuilding of a devastated land. The American soldiers were given postings around Tokyo but the Australians were stationed around Hiroshima and Kure . The BCOF story is a one of courage and determination in a role that was neither combatant nor confrontational as the war had been just months previously. A defeated  nation was now under the control of a foreign force that included Australians, British, New Zealand and Indian forces.
As part of the 34th Brigade, responsibility was to provide security and enforcing Armistice conditions in Hiroshima Prefecture. During this time the Brigade was involved in providing security for elections, locating and destroying war equipment and stores and ceremonial duties including mounting guard at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
Finally in July 1947, Dan returned to Australia on the Kanimbla  and in August 1947 was discharged from Military service to begin another life . Most BCOF forces were removed from Japan by 1948 with all forces redeployed with the outbreak of the Korean war.
More than 16000 Australians spent some time in Japan as part of the BCOF. From 1946 until 1952.
The Australian experiences of occupation encompassed power, prejudice and possibly violence, but it also engendered friendship compassion and even love which remain as legacies today.
Dan Crane's photographic diary portrays a glimpse of life for those 15 months  in a land full of rich culture and unique conditions. 


Young Dan Crane

Dan enlisited and began his training.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

InterCultural Consulting group.

Who we are and What we do?                    
InterCultural Consulting Group Website   
Hiroshima International College                
ICG Brochure                                                 
Contacts                                                          
                                                                 

What 's Happening at ICG.     

Memories  of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Exhibition    
Hiroshima survivor visits Brisbane                             
Dan Crane- an Australian Soldier in Hiroshima        
Anzac Day Trip to the Western Front 2013                
Student Essay competition-win a trip to Japan         
Sapporo Ice Festival Trip February 2014                   
Canada Wild Bear Reserve trip September 2014
Hiroshima Day Trip to Japan August 2014