Six hundred Australian and New Zealand forestry troops, en route from England to their home countries, were given the unique honour of marching in a ticker-tape parade, with fixed bayonets, down Broadway in New York, said to be the only occasion that armed foreign troops had marched through an American city since Independence then to be officially welcomed by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia at City Hall, New York City.
LTCOL C.R.Coles was the Commander of the ANZAC’s, others on the reviewing stand are; BRIGGEN Troup Miller the US Army, Inspector General of the Eastern Defence Command – Sir Godfrey Haggard, British Consul – GEN Sir Owen Dickson Australian Minister to the US – GEN V.A. Sturdee, Chief of the Australian Military Mission at Washington the US Capital – Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York City and BRIGGEN Ralph K. Robertson of
the US Army. Mayor La Guardia asked the men to convey to the people of Australia and New Zealand the city’s assurance of cooperation in the war effort.
After the reception, the soldiers were taken on a shopping and sightseeing trip that took in the Yankee Stadium in New York City where they saw a NY Yankees Versus Chicago White Sox base ball game. Then a reception held at the historic 7th Regiment Armory, also in New York City.
The Australian contingent was the “Australian Forestry Group” an element of the Second Australian Imperial Force raised for forestry duties. Its constituent units were established in 1940 and 1941 in response to a request from the British Government for foresters to work in France.
After the fall of France the three Australian forestry companies were sent to the United Kingdom. The group headquarters was raised in July 1941. The foresters
worked in northern England and Scotland, and had a secondary military role. The Australian Forestry Group returned to Australia via the United States in 1943, and its three companies later served in the Northern Territory and New Guinea.
History
In 1939, the British Government requested that Australia raise three, 200-man strong companies of foresters to join a force of twenty units drawn from Canada and further three from New Zealand to support the British Expeditionary Force in France and the Australian Government readily agreed. However, in line with a request from the French Government, all of their officers were to be members of either the Commonwealth or State government forest services or employed in the sawmilling industry so that the wasteful cutting and damage experienced in World War 1 was not repeated.
Two forestry companies were quickly raised in 1940 as part of the Royal Australian Engineers (RAE). The first Forestry Company (2/1) was in Sydney with men from NSW, Queensland and South Australia led by Captain Cyril Richard Cole, a professional forester from the Australian Capital Territory, while a second Forestry Company (2/2) was raised in Melbourne under the command of Captain Andrew Leonard (Ben) Benallack from the Forests Commission Victoria with soldiers recruited from Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.
All units included men who had served in the war of 1914– 18. As the need for forestry companies persisted the 2/3 Forestry Company of 150 men was formed in Melbourne in March–April 1941 under the Command of Major Mervyn Alexander Rankin, a forester from the South Australian Woods and Forests Department. Some additional reinforcements were recruited as well as staff for a group HQ.
At the cessation of hostilities in 1945 all three Australian forestry companies were progressively disbanded but some men remained as late as 1946 to help with reconstruction. Nine men from the Forestry Companies were honoured including Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Richard Cole with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) but six men died in accidents or from illness.
Photos donated by 91 Forestry Sqn
RAEAV Collection PV 528
Subscribe to have our posts emailed to you automatically
Royal Australian Engineers Association of Victoria Inc. 