James Holland
speaker
22,142 appearances
48 recordings
7 series
first heard May 2025
last heard 5d ago
James Holland’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 45 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 10.
Appearances
There were stories in the paper about Australian Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean and our troops in the desert, but the impact on day-to-day existence was negligible.
By early nineteen forty two that had all changed.
Australia was on the front lines and really scrambling to catch up.
My grandfather was studying law at Sydney Uni, and after finishing his studies in nineteen forty three he joined the Field Ambulance.
He trained in North Queensland and was sent to Port Moresby in early nineteen forty four.
Port Moresby was not under direct threat, but Jack's diaries described regular Japanese bombing raids, lots and lots of wounded men, and for a few weeks, time in the jungle on some sort of patrol, looking for and identifying enemy aircraft.
By Ward's end, Jack was a Moratai, and he was home early in nineteen forty six.
By any account, his war was unremarkable.
What does make it remarkable is the fact that his experiences were shared by tens of thousands of men exactly like him.
Also remarkable is the lasting generational impact his war had on my family.
Even more remarkable is the way that this war has shaped my country.
The war changed Jack.
When I think of my grandparents' house I think of pained silence.
Silence that has a volume because it represents something, tension and uncomfortability.
A gentleman who loved cricket and reading, the years away at war must have played on his anxieties.
He was never on the front line, but the front line was always there.
The Japanese army was only ever a rumour away, and he lived for three years in a state of hyper and constant alertness.
He also saw tragedy daily, the physical destruction of bombs and explosives, bodies torn apart, and the scourge of tropical disease.
He had great mates, but he loved his family, and the extended time apart from home and loved ones gnawed him.
Once when he was observing aircraft, he was alone for a few nights.
Showing 441–460 of 22,142 · page 23 of 1108
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