Z Special Unit | Australian Secret Force WWII | Leyburn Airfield

[@markfryer9880]

I have actually had the opportunity to meet two Z-Force members (one male, one female) back in 1995 and 2001 while working as a Wardrobe Installer for several companies here in Melbourne, Australia. I first met Patricia (Pat), when I went to install a wardrobe in her unit in women's retirement village in Brighton in 1995. Pat was lying back getting a facial treatment when I arrived and busy rapping out orders to people, including me. I was wondering what kind of a battleaxe I was going to have to deal with as I was bringing in components and tools to do my job. As I was walking in and out, I couldn't help but notice the Royal Australian Signals "Jimmy" the torch bearer, wall plaque up on her wall and then directly beneath it was a similar wall plaque with a big Z. Hello, that's Z-Force, I said to myself? Making conversation, I enquired if her husband had been in Z-Force? "No, I was!" Came the calm reply! Hold the phone? What? I had to get to the bottom of this story and here it is! 1942, and Australia is under threat of Invasion from the on rushing forces of Imperial Japan. Pat and many other young women like her, joined up to do their part by joining the Army. She and her group became Signals Operators, proficient in Morse Code, typing, encoding and decoding messages and were based at the Army Camp that occupied Fawkner Park, South Yarra, just off Toorak Road and in close proximity to Victoria Barracks on St Kilda Road. There were also American Forces stationed at Melbourne Grammar School and Melbourne High School. Now, an important point. In the Australian Army you cannot handle Top Secret radio traffic unless you are a Sergeant or above. So all of these young women were promoted to Sgts straight away. This pissed off the regular Diggers and Corporals, because now they couldn't date them. Anyway, these girls were handling Top Secret radio traffic coming from all parts of the South West Pacific, including from Coast Watchers up around Northern Australia and up in the islands to our North. This radio traffic was vital to the success of the Allies military campaigns. It was very lonely and dangerous work for if the Japanese were to get hold of you as a Coast Watcher reporting on their shipping and aircraft movements, you could expect to die. It was just a question of how soon and how painfully you were to be killed. So Pat and the other girls were dealing with life and death messages and frequently contact with the Coast Watchers and other Commando forces was broken and never re-established. Good, brave men, lost forever. Many of these girls never married after the war, because they had seen too many good men die, and they had to much responsibility and independence to ever be able to simply go and marry and become a home-maker and mother. In Pat's case, she was married and expecting her first child, when her husband passed away from complications from being a POW. I assumed that it was under the Japanese, but never asked. The shock of her husband passing caused Pat to misscarry her baby. Rather than mope around feeling sorry for herself, she talked it over with her parents and decided to head to London. She then got herself a job with Harrods working in a church, fitting out all of the Lords and Ladies for the Corronation of Queen Elizabeth II. While she is working for Harrods, she happened to be helping a young Army Captain spend his Demobilisation Pay. This young Army Captain would later become an actor best known for his role as "Captain Peacock" in the TV series "Are You Being Served?" 😅 Seriously, I couldn't believe it when Pat told me! She said that when the show came on TV in Australia, she turned to her Mother and said, "Oh Mother, Stephen is just telling his War Stories!" 😅 A common trait amongst many actors! She later returned to Australia, became a teacher and later on a School Principal. While doing this, she got involved in organising an association for Z-Force members and arranging reunions for members to meet up. This particularly included her Army Signals girls, as well as providing assistance to any that were ill or otherwise having difficulties. For these activities, Pat was recognised by the Awarding of an Order of Australia Medal, which was presented to her by the then Governor General, Sir John Kerr! 😮 Yes, the same Governor General who dismissed the Whitlam Labor Government. Refer to videos about "The Dismissal" for further information. There on her wall was even a photo of Pat in Antarctica, I didn't find out anything more about that, but she did say that she was still planning on visiting South America, to complete visiting all of the Continents. 😮😮 As a Thank You for building her wardrobe and hearing her life story, Pat gave me her Army Signals Corp wall plaque after I had mentioned that I never bothered to buy one for myself when I was in Two Signals Regiment, Army Reserve. I have her wall plaque somewhere, but the main thing is that I tell her story. Two weeks after I did her wardrobe, I am watching an ABC (Australia) documentary about WWII called "Australia 50 Years On!" Yep, Pat was in the documentary. She said that the Army still wheeled her out for speeches and interviews. Three months later my brother's then girlfriend asked me, "What was the name of that woman you did the wardrobe for?" You mean Pat Penrose? "Yeah, I think that she gave a speech to my brother's Cadet Corp at Ivanhoe Grammar?" Sounds like her! 😅 Then for the next decade at least, in the lead up to every ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day, Pat would turn up in the newspaper, along with a group of her girls! In 2005 I was round at my parents place in Brighton just before ANZAC Day, and not only was Pat in the newspaper, but she was also featured in the Local Paper with her Father's WWI medals on one side and her medals on the other side! 😊 Pat has gone now, but you can google her name and read up on her life. Patricia Penrose OAM. I have just gone blank on her Maiden name but it is listed. EDIT Ratray. It came to me while proof reading this post. Like I said, Pat never had any kids, so I like to keep her story alive because I had a personal connection to her! Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@nedkelly9688]

Cool story also, i only found out recently about Garage girls a story of Australian women in Brisbane ww2 who had job of deciphering codes and radio signals. all very interesting stuff. And USA still say in stories it was their intelligence doing all this and was actually a lot of Australian and women too. Hate how important history is lost to this kind of propaganda.

[@highcountrydelatite]

No such unit called z force ever existed in Australia.

[@highcountrydelatite]

z special unit not z force

[@owais146]

GOD BLESS THOSE COMMANDOS & THANKS FOR THEIR SERVICE

[@FundsSeeker-fy5rv]

My father, Flight Lieutenant John Thompson, was navigator for the 200 Flight commander a person called Graham Pockley. Pockley's crew was shot down with all crew lost. Pockley gained a reputation as a uboat killer flying Short Sunderland flying boats in the Bay of Biscay in Europe. My father said Pockley was agressive and was probably killed while strafing Japanese ships. Fortunately for me my dad was sick that day and was not in that aircraft. He survived the war and raised seven children with my mother.

[@peterwright217]

in the late 8o's i met a gentleman by of name of Jack Wong Sue (Perth), you would not that thought that he was a Z team member, a very humble man.

[@pervertt]

His service was all the more extraordinary considering the White Australia policy was still active when he enlisted.

[@danielponiatowski7368]

in 1982 i did some time in prison, WA, and worked with one of these guys. he had a bunch of photos from various places during his career, most of the screws were X military and really didnt like him.

[@highcountrydelatite]

No such name a z team...

[@mickypoole9226]

My father was Z special unit. Trained on Fraser Island. Went in to Timor a few times I believe

[@robertjames1324]

I was fortunate enough to train in unarmed combat with a Gentleman from Z Special in fact an unarmed combat instructor in z. Later on his career he was an Unarmed Combat instructor for SASR. Not sure if he was SASR beret qualified or posted. I assumed he was beret qualified. He instructed at the Scool of Infantry in same and Bayonet fighting. And that is not the half of it. His instruction technique was harsh and close to brutal. Dam he was good. I learnt so much and it was a real honour for me. Z operators were/are the very very real deal

[@highcountrydelatite]

operative not operator

[@stevepatterson4147]

Very interesting video. In 1992 I was one of six RAAF members who participated in a joint Army/RAAF activity, Exercise Bareo Return, organised by Land Warfare Centre, Canungra in remembrance of the close working relationship between Z Special Unit and 200 Flight. The activity involved us travelling to Bario in Sarawak (a key location for the Z Special Unit teams deployed on Operation Semut 1) and then trekking to Batu Lawi, a twin peak that projects above the jungle canopy used as a navigation marker by 200 Flight. Major Tom Harrisson of Z Special Unit placed a wooden plaque on this feature at the end of the war to commemorate the crew of A72-191; this was replaced with a brass plaque by an ADF team in 1987. Our expedition team cleaned the plaque and conducted a memorial service for the crew of A92-171 and all those who lost their lives during operations against the Japanese. Later in the trip we travelled to Thailand and visited several sites on the Burma Railway including the bridge over the Khwae Yai River (the 'Bridge Over the River Kwai') and Hellfire Pass. Definitely a highlight of my time in the RAAF.

[@hodaka1000]

I wouldn't be here without "Z" My father was one of the Sandakan Death March survivors recovered by Z Special Force operatives from the jungle near Ranau in Japanese occupied central North Borneo

[@highcountrydelatite]

z special unit

[@highcountrydelatite]

It wasnt modelled off SOE...David stirlings brother created SOA. It was done at the same time

[@bruceday6799]

WOW!

[@michaelhayden725]

That anything this “special” was based on a suggestion by Blamey is almost unbelievable, given his history between the two wars. But having read the books based on the actions of Z Special Group they should be significantly honoured, especially those men executed by the Japanese Army.

[@highcountrydelatite]

please its z special unit

[@slickstrings]

I live not far from their training site north of sydney.

[@Wedgetail96]

The narrator at the end, is that MGuy?

[@fandangofandango2022]

All Great Australian.

[@PeterBriggs01]

my uncle Tom was Z force .

[@highcountrydelatite]

then he would have been british and in burma in a minor intel obs unit...australia had z special unit....force z was a british major fleet unit op