Brian Hannagan

His name was Brian James Hannagan.  He was a lieutenant in the 2-6 commandos. They called themselves the Purple Devils. He was on the Honor Force, and received the Colonial Metal of Honor. He was in the first Aussie Parachute Battalion back in 1943.  It was all top secret; so much of his knowledge was lost when he passed. My great grandmother was a writer in the Navy in 1944 during the same part of the war. The motto was “we are doing our bit for George” because he was the king of England at the time. This was a big reason for many people wanting to help out in the war. Lorna and Brian were married for 60 years and one week. 

Here are some particulars that my great grandma told me:

Brian was caught in the tracks of the Japanese Soldiers walking towards his troops. The Japanese Soldiers had about 20,000 men and Brian only had 300 men so there was no way that they could go head on. So they used bamboo to make holes to breathe through as the Japanese Soldiers walked on their backs.

Another story was when Brian and his troops received reinforcements from Australia and they little by little killed the enemy and ate away at the edges man by man. This way they could stop the Japanese Soldiers so that by the time they headed for Australia they were a smaller group and could be managed. From here the war lead to the Battle of the Coral Sea. This was the battle that ended the war. This battle may have been lost and Australia could have been conquered if it weren’t for my great grandfather and his troops.