PEARSALL Thomas Gordon TX6060 B Coy [F Force]
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 10 October 1945, page 2
BOUQUETS AND KISSES FOR EIGHTH DIVISION VETERANS
Tasmanians In Sydney
By a Special Staff Reporter
SYDNEY, Tues.— Girls threw bouquets and paper and blew kisses to men of the 8th Division who returned from Singapore in the Esperance Bay today as they drove through the crammed streets of Sydney to Ingle-burn Camp. The ship carried 914 men, of whom 20 were Tasmanians.
Usually last off the ships because of their comparatively small numbers, the Tasmanians were disembarked first today. This led to much chaffing and the ex-change of pleasantries, with the particular reference to the size of Tasmania and what would happen when the repatriates stepped ashore.
The men were in high spirits and sang lustily when the military band on the wharf played popular tunes.
I drove through the city with the Tasmanians-all men of the 2/29th Battalion-who sang their battalion song as they drove through cheering crowds in Martin Place.
With them on the ship was Sister Audrey Luttrell, of Birchs Bay, near Woodbridge, who left Tasmania in 1938, and was in England when war broke out.
Trained at the Royal Hobart Hospital, she joined the British Army Nursing Service, and after going to Norway, spent 3½ years in India. She was among those detailed to bring Australians home, and hopes to return to Tasmania soon.
"Like Happy Family"
At Ingleburn Camp the Tasmanians received mail, the second since they were liberated.
Practically all have been together since they left Tasmania in the charge of Lt T. G. Pearsall, of Kingston, who brought them home, and they were like a happy family.
Pearsall, who played football for Lefroy, said the spirit of the Tasmanians was never subdued, though most of them were attached to a force which went through vile experiences on the Burma railway.
Every week, he said, the Tasmanians had a meeting at which they discussed home plans for the future and ex-changed news. If one received a letter it was passed round the lot. They helped each other constantly, and showed fine loyalty
Complete records were kept by Lt Pearsall, who also has a diary covering events from the day of his departure. He said the 74 Tasmanians under his charge were divided between the 2/29th and 2/26th Battalions. Five were killed in action, 22 died with "F" Force, one died with "H" Force, and two were drowned when en route from Sumatra to Singapore. He had no knowledge of six men who were taken with a working party to Borneo.
Lt Pearsall said when men were cremated in the jungle, the ashes were placed in bamboo caskets and buried in accordance with Christian rites. Practically all the graves were marked and their situation was known.
The cemetery at Changi was un-surpassed for beauty, and the graves were carefully tended.
Plenty Of Souvenirs
Most of the Tasmanians have souvenirs, most impressive of which is a Samurai sword taken from a Jap officer by Pte R. M. Hassett, of Commercial Rd., Hobart.
Pte S. E. Shegog, of Launceston, has a cigarette case made from aluminium taken from a Jap plane. Lighting a cigarette recalled to him that for years they did not have matches, and used flint and steel to light their fires and cigarettes. For cigarette paper they used newspaper, split playing cards, and the leaves of Bibles.
Pte L. Fisher, of Oonah, escaped from Singapore with 90 others three days after the surrender.
For a day they hid in an underground drain while Japs passed overhead. The voyage of 100 miles to Sumatra took 10 days.
He has been building roads and railways for nearly three years, at times from dawn until midnight, on three cupfuls of mushy rice a day.
The Largs Bay, with more Tasmanians, is due in Sydney tomorrow morning.
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Note
HASSETT Robert Michael TX8347 HQ Coy [F Force]
SHEGOG Samuel Edward TX8311 D Coy [F Force]
FISHER Laurence John TX5251 Reinforcements [Sum]
ACT police recover Canberra man's stolen WWII memorabilia
From the Canberra Times – November 14, 2014
Prized mementos: War medals and a handwritten diary which belonged to Scott Pearsall's grandfather were among the items stolen.
Among Scott Pearsall's most treasured possessions were a handwritten diary and several war medals that told the story of his grandfather's journey as a prisoner of war in World War II.
That's why Mr Pearsall, a University of Canberra academic, was devastated to discover thieves had stolen the prized memorabilia when they burgled his Pearce home in May this year.
The haul included one of two prisoner-of-war diaries and medals that belonged to his grandfather Thomas Pearsall, who served in the military between 1940 and 1945.
Delighted: Scott Pearsall and wife Paul with precious war memorabilia recovered from thieves.
During that time, Mr Pearsall became a prisoner of war at Singapore's notorious Changi jail and later worked under brutal conditions on the Thai-Burma Railway.
Police found the memorabilia when they seized thousands of dollars worth of stolen items from seven properties across the ACT earlier this year.
Mr Pearsall and his wife Paula collected them from City Police Station in Civic on Friday.
He plans to transcribe the diaries so they can be published before he donates them and the medals to the Australian War Memorial.
"We were devastated when my grandfather's diary and medals were stolen as these were irreplaceable," Mr Pearsall said.
"I'm delighted that the diary and the medals, so dear to our family, have been recovered."
ACT Policing Crime Targeting Team detective senior constable Brett Katz worked on the case since May and said discovering the memorabilia and returning it to the Pearsall family was a good outcome following an "involved and protracted investigation".
"It gives you great satisfaction as a police officer to recover items which mean so much to people and ensure they make their way back to the rightful owners," he said