Record your family's war memories on video
Theo Clark Media has recorded a number of precious war memoirs on video for family histories, including stories of the Kokoda Track, the Burma Railway, women in the services, and the war in Vietnam. If you would like a legacy film to record the "courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice" of a member of your family who served, contact us today. View some sample war histories by Theo Clark, featuring interviews with veterans and their families below.
Interview with Judith Follett WRANS
A gentleman from Mi5 told us that we were never to explain our work to a living soul, or we'd be shot... and as far as I know, that work has never been described - Judith Follett WRANS.
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The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) was formed in 1941 as a result of manpower shortages in the Royal Australian Navy during World War Two. I recorded this family history interview with Judith Follett in 2001. Judith served with the WRANS from 1942 to 1945, working as Petty Officer Writer in naval intelligence. Here she reveals the untold story of the women of HMAS Harman in Canberra and recalls something of the drama of the Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour and the sorrow of learning that her brother Bob had died as a POW on the Burma Railway.
In an interesting post script to this story, Judith and her husband Aubrey raised three daughters, including former ACT Chief Minister Rosemary Follett, who was elected in 1989 as the first woman to lead an Australian State or Territory. The original handycam video quality is now a bit rough, but this film captures an important slice of Australian history, and shows how archival footage can be spliced together with photos and film to bring these old stories back to life. Read more: Invisible, Unrecognised, Inspirational: The wartime service of Judith Follett WRANS |
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Bill Flowers and the Burma Railway
What an honour to listen to these men who are relating their experiences. My Dad was a POW on the Burma Railway. He was taken from Saigon to the virgin jungle of Kinsayok in Siam at the start of the 1943 Speedo period. I humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart for telling this true story." - YouTuber @Angusmum
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Bill Flowers was one of the 15,000 Australian soldiers captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.
He spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese. Before the surrender, he'd been hailed as the "youngest guerrilla in Malaya" when as a part of Rose Force he and a select band encountered the Japanese behind enemy lines as the first Australians to engage the Japanese in battle in the Second World War. Along with his comrades from the 2/29thth Battalion, he was sent to the most notorious and deadly section of the Burma Railway as a labourer. He was among the lucky ones to survive. Bill's wife and children shared this story of courage and endurance with me for a family history video in 2021. |
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World War Two Remembered by Fred Westphal
Thank you for this video. Out of the many docos my Year 10 students have watched, this by far really impacted them the most. Real experiences and sentiments shared by a hero - Katherine Kovacic (YouTuber & Teacher)
Fred Westphal was a successful Sydney businessman and 6th Division veteran of World War Two. In this 2016 family history interview, Fred gives a gripping account of his experiences in the Middle East and New Guinea during the war, including the famous Kokoda Campaign that halted the Japanese advance towards Australia. Fred died before Christmas 2018, at the age of 99. This is his incredible story of "courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice", caught just in time.
Part One: Leaving For War |
Part Two: The Middle East |
Part Three: Kokoda |
Flt Sgt Ken Gilkes RAAF: "The Last of the Guinea Pigs"
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings... I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace, where never lark, nor even eagle flew— and, while with silent lifting mind I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God."- High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jnr.
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An interview by Theo Clark with Flt Sgt Charles Kenneth Gilkes, Royal Australian Air Force - "The last of the Guinea Pigs".
On 7 September 1943, Ken Gilkes he was piloting a Short Stirling four engine bomber, when his plane was downed in a hit and run attack by a German JU 88 fighter-bomber, which dropped out of the darkness over head as he was on final approach to his airfield at night. Ken crash-landed the aircraft in flames and managed to scramble out and leap into a pool of burning burning petrol. He was transferred to the RAF hospital at East Grinstead, which had been established to care for burned airmen. Here he undertook saline treatment and surgery under the pioneering oversight of Sir Archie McIndoe. |
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The air war created an unprecedented surge in severe burns patients and the patients and McIndoe formed a unique bond, founding what became known as the Guinea Pigs Club. Initially a social and drinking club to assist with rehabilitation, the club's membership endured long after the war, with Prince Phillip becoming their president in 1960. Ken attended their last formal reunion in 2007 and when he passed away in 2014, was believed to be the last of the Australian Guinea Pigs.
Ken allowed me to record this audio interview of his story in 2013, and I have more recently added footage and photographs of the era to turn it into a film.
Ken allowed me to record this audio interview of his story in 2013, and I have more recently added footage and photographs of the era to turn it into a film.