LCDR John Morrell BAND, US Navy Cross,
RANR(S)
 John
Morrell Band (1902-1943), Naval officer, was born on 22
March 1902 at South Shields, County of Durham, England, son
of John Oliver Band, master mariner, and his wife Margaret,
née Morrell. The family moved to London where young
John's education at Enfield Grammar School was interrupted
by trips to sea with his parents. He followed his
father into the Merchant Navy, gaining his first-mate's
certificate in 1924. When his venture as part-owner of
a trading vessel was curtailed by the Depression, Band went
to China and accumulated enough money to settle on a farm at
Nyeri, Kenya. There he bred Ayrshire cattle and did
safari work. In 1932 at Nanyuki he married Clara
Violet Howes.
After his cattle died of disease, Band tried running guns
and smuggling potatoes to Ethiopia, but was apprehended.
By the late 1930s he was sailing in coastal steamers in the
Pacific and had bought land at Woorim on Queensland's Bribie
Island. Keen to be in uniform in the event of war, on
1 September 1939 he obtained an appointment as temporary
Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve(Sea).
Between 5 October 1939 and 27 July 1940 he served in the
armed merchant cruiser HMS Moreton Bay. In
November 1939 Moreton Bay took passage to Hong Kong
from where she mounted patrols in north east Asia as far
north as Vladivostok. The primary objective was to
intercept German merchant ships which might sail from
Japanese ports in which they had taken refuge. The
work was monotonous and often arduous with long spells at
sea in weather that varied from bright and sunny, to violent
gales and snow storms. In June 1940 Band was promoted
Lieutenant and following Italy’s entry into the war
Moreton Bay received orders to proceed to the East
Indies Station before steaming via Cape Town for service in
the North Atlantic.
At this juncture Lieutenant Band left the ship, taking
passage to Colombo in SS Narkunda and from there
returning to Australia where he joined HMAS Cerberus
(Flinders Naval Depot) in July 1940 for training courses.
He remained in Cerberus until February 1941 after
which he spent a short period in HMAS Lonsdale
(Port Melbourne) before transferring to Sydney where he
served briefly in HMAS Penguin and HMAS
Platypus.
In April 1941 he joined the survey vessel HMAS Moresby
remaining in her until August before spending a brief period
in Penguin before joining the cruiser HMAS
Hobart on 3 September 1941. Band served in
Hobart during the Battle of the Coral Sea leaving the
ship in July 1942 to take up a shore appointment in Brisbane
as the officer-in-charge of the naval wing at the combined
operations training centre at Toorbul Point.
The school instructed Australian and American soldiers and
sailors in amphibious warfare. Band was in his
element, teaching landing operations to his students, and
training them to be physically and mentally tough.
Over six feet (183 cm) tall, well built, part buccaneer and
part gentleman, he had a ready, sardonic grin which he used
effectively when deriding his juniors. Although a
strict disciplinarian, he could be charming and had a fund
of stories about his adventures.
On 11
January 1943 Band was appointed an acting temporary
Lieutenant Commander. In July he received orders to
proceed to HMAS Basilisk in New Guinea having been
appointed as the officer-in-charge of the mobile base
administration unit Fairfax situated in Port Moresby.
He was subsequently appointed the Port Director of Buna on
Papua’s north coast in August. There Band was praised
for his initiative and efforts in transforming the port into
a 24-hour-a-day operation through the installation of
makeshift buoys and lighting.
Left: HMAS Watcher in the
Basilisk Slipway. Right: The naval repair workshop at
Basilisk.
HMAS Basilisk was a Royal Australian Navy depot base
in Port Moresby,
first Commissioned on 1 January 1943.
On 18 September, a conference at the Australian 9th Division
headquarters was convened to outline plans for the capture
of the Finschhafen-Langemak Bay-Dreger Harbour area with a
quick amphibious assault that would help to gain control of
the east coast of the Huon Peninsula and thereby the Vitiaz
Strait. A New Guinea Force Intelligence summary of 15
September had put the strength of the enemy around
Finschhafen at 2100 but after the fall of Lae the estimate
was reduced to 350. The disparity could not be
reconciled and consequently field formations were given both
figures.
Admiral DE Barbey, USN, Commander Amphibious Force
South-West Pacific, allotted four APDs (high speed converted
destroyers and destroyer escorts used as transports to
support US Navy amphibious operations in World War II), 15
LCIs (Landing Craft Infantry) and three LSTs (Landing Ship
Tank) to the operation. A further eight LCMs (Landing
Craft Mechanised) were also made available from a US army
boat battalion. A boat battalion and half a shore
battalion from the US 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment
(EBSR) was also made available to aid in supplying the
Australian brigade.
It was to the 532nd EBSR that Lieutenant Commander Band
appears to have been attached as the officer-in-charge of
the naval beach party. It was responsible for carrying
and erecting beach markers ashore that would guide the
amphibious assault waves to their designated landing points.
The reason behind Band’s attachment to the American unit is
unclear, but it is plausible that it was due to his
knowledge of amphibious operations learnt during his time at
Toorbul.
The date of the Finschhafen landing was set as 22 September
and would comprise seven assault waves. The 2/13 &
2/17 Infantry Battalions were assigned the task to land
companies from each on Scarlet Beach to the north, Siki Cove
to the immediate South and further south towards Arndt Point
on the headland. Scarlett beach was about 600 yards
long, 30 to 40 feet wide with good firm sand suitable for
receiving the larger LSTs. At the northern end of the
sandy beach was the mouth of the Song River.
Detail of Finschhafen
Landings, 22 September 1943
The amphibious force left Lae at 7:30pm on 21 September and
steamed toward its objective in calm seas under the cover of
darkness. At 2:45am on 22 September Reveille was
sounded and the assaulting troops moved to their amphibious
embarkation stations. At 4:45am five escorting US
destroyers bombarded the shoreline from 5000 yards, the
flashes of the explosions lighting up the blackness of the
beach and giving the barges from the APDs some idea of
direction in the darkness. The destroyers were using
red tracer rounds and the bombardment was believed to have
had a considerable impact on the defending Japanese.
When the naval gunfire ceased Wave 1 was dispatched
comprising 16 barges carrying two companies from 2/17 and
2/13 Battalions. It is unclear which landing craft
Lieutenant Commander Band was embarked in.
As the barges proceeded to the shore in the pre-dawn
darkness some of them veered to the left and consequently
landed to the south of Scarlett Beach in Siki Cove.
From the beginning of the landing the Australian and
American ‘amphibious scouts’ (mainly from the 532nd EBSR)
had attempted to gather on Scarlett Beach from the various
positions in which they had been landed. Band leapt
ashore and called his men to follow. According to one
account, a Japanese shouted, 'Who's there?' Band answered,
'The navy', and was hit by a burst of machine-gun fire and
mortally wounded. Despite his wounds, he continued to
direct operations and saved a group of vessels from beaching
in the wrong position. Carrying his equipment to
measure depths he floundered into the water in
a desperate attempt to carry out his task. He was
subsequently taken to a field hospital, possibly one set up
by the 2/8th Field Ambulance or the US 262nd Medical
Battalion, where he died the following day. Lieutenant
Commander Band was buried in the Soputa War Cemetery, near
Buna, on 24 September 1943. After the war’s end he was
reburied in the Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby.
Landing at Scarlet Beach by
VX93432 Captain RC Hodgkinson, Jungle Warfare.
Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 1944.
It is unclear who witnessed and recorded the circumstances
surrounding Band’s death but it is possible that it was
either Lieutenant Herman A Koeln or Lieutenant Edward K
Hammer, both of whom were US amphibious scouts. During
the fighting they linked up with Lieutenant C Huggett in
charge of 1 Platoon, C Company, 2/13 Battalion and despite
heavy Japanese opposition managed to set up range lights,
flank markers, make a rapid survey of the beach and radio
the result of their reconnaissance to the ships waiting
offshore.
On 1 March 1944 details of Band’s death and heroism became
known when the Australian Minister for External Affairs, HV
Evatt, received a letter from Nelson Trusler Johnson, the
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the
United States of America based in Canberra, proposing that
the late Lieutenant Commander Band be decorated for heroism
through the award of a United States Navy Cross.
The offer of an award of a US Navy Cross to Lieutenant
Commander Band was gratefully accepted by the Australian
Government on 17 May 1944 and a presentation was made to his
next-of-kin on 28 March 1945 by the Commander of US Naval
Forces in Europe.
Lieutenant Commander Band was one of only three officers of
Australia’s Naval Forces to be decorated with this
prestigious award.
Sources:
Sea Power Centre - John Perryman
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Hall of Valor Project
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