Education

With Anzac Day 2022 just around the corner, we flash back to an interview we did in August 2019 with Len McLeod. In 2022 Len is still going strong, and will participate in this years ANZAC Day march.

Len was determined to serve during WW2 and lied about his age to get into the Army.  He served with the infantry in New Guinea, and on the Dakota Biscuit Bombers  but was discharged medically unfit after being wounded. 

So what did a young chap like Len do?  He signed up with the US Army Small Ships of course, and went back into those dangerous waters of the Pacific until the end of the war!   At war’s end he was aboard the concrete hulled supply ship SS Armand Considere, and stayed aboard when it was taken over by The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association, providing and administering relief for victims of war. 

The sight of immense death and destruction in Shanghai in particular almost overwhelmed Len.  It played on his mind for 74 years.  the then 93 year old Len travelled back to Shanghai and Manilla and was feted by the authorities. 

Photos provided by Denise West, Len’s daughter and used with permission.