Group of Four: 1939/45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939/45 and Australian Service Medal 39/45. Both the War Medal and ASM are correctly impressed to S6294 C. W. SUSSMAN with the stars being unnamed as often found on early issues.
Seaman Sussman served on multiple ships during his service including the HMAS Adelaide in May to July 1942, when the Adelaide was docked at Garden Island for a refit, during the Japanese midget sub attack of 31 May 1942.
In November 1942, Adelaide, along with the Dutch cruiser HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk and the Australian corvettes Cessnock and Toowoomba, escorted a convoy across the southern Indian Ocean. On 28 November, the ships spotted an unidentified vessel, which claimed to be the Norwegian merchantman Taiyang Officers aboard Adelaide recognized the ship as the German Blockade Runner Ramses, but did not receive a response to their challenging until two boats were lowered from the ship, followed by the sound of an explosion from a scuttling charge. Adelaide opened fire, hitting with the third salvo onwards, and continued shooting until Ramses sank eight minutes later, then recovered the Germans from the boats.
Seaman Sussman then went on to serve on the HMAS Yandra, Koopa, Moreton, ML 430 (Fairmile B class), Shropshire among others and finally discharging on the HMAS Rushcutter (previously HDML 1321). It appears that he was working on the Harbour Defence Motor Launch’s (HDML) which would work as patrol boats assigned to do reconnaissance work, these ships provided vital support for missions around New Guinea and the islands , including a mission which involved launching of four folding kayaks with eight Z Special commandos. One area mentioned on several occasions in Sussman’s records is “Ko Adang” in Thailand.
A good researcher with an understanding of naval records could possibly follow the dates and ships listed in his service record to see exactly his involvement in these raids. The AWM website has quite a few of the patrol reports available to the public as well. This is a very interesting group to an outstanding sailor.
Note: The ML-430 was sunk by gunfire from HMAS ML 819, after being mistaken for the conning tower of a Japanese submarine, north of Biak, New Guinea on 14 August 1944
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