As ANZAC Day comes around each year, these days, the dwindling ranks of the so-called "Rats of Tobruk" have thinned even further.
The "Rats of Tobruk" earned an honoured place in Australian military history, more than 70 years ago.
In April, 1941, along with some British and Indian troops, about 14,000 Australian soldiers became besieged in the Libyan town of Tobruk, surrounded by Italian and German forces desperate to win control of its harbour.
Despite almost constant bombardment by artillery and from the air, the "Rats" managed to hold on to the town until the siege was lifted in December.
It was a significant military victory as the allies struggled to defend Egypt and the Suez Canal - forcing the enemy forces to bring supplies overland from the port of Tripoli, across 15-hundred kilometres of desert.
But it came at a high cost: with more than 500 of the Australians killed, and hundreds more wounded.
Only about 100 "Rats of Tobruk" are still alive.
Just days before ANZAC Day this year, one more, 93-year-old Harry Sutherland of Victoria, passed away.
Harry Sutherland shared some memories, in this recent report compiled by Santilla Chingaipe.
"(Rats of Tobruk singing): They call us the rats of Tobruk, but we can still sing and here's our opening number 'Bless them all'. (singing) 'So cheer up my lads Bless 'em all, You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, So cheer up my lads Bless 'em all'."
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"(Harry Sutherland): The living conditions were terrible. We dug a hole in the ground to live in. That was also to protect us from the bombing raids and the hole was full of fleas and flies and every now and again a dust storm would come in and that's how we used to have to live and the food was terrible and very little water."
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"(Harry Sutherland): The reasons we were fighting there in the first place was because Germany declared war on England and if the German advance hadn't been stopped they would have, don't know how far they would have gone. They would have captured lots of land. They had to be stopped anyway, because they were just marching everywhere. All over Europe and everywhere taking control everywhere they went they just took control and Tobruk was the first time they were ever stopped in there advances."
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"(Harry Sutherland): Well the scariest time was when the German planes came up over and I was in the target area which was a food depot and that's what they were there for to destroy all the food and we were there working there and I looked up and saw these planes. I thought they were British planes, but next minute they were diving down on top of us and I realised then they were Germans and the planes that were attacking us were called German Stuka Dive Bombers and they used to get up directly above the target, come down straight then release their bombs and pull out of the dive. And us blokes that were working there, we were terrified with the terrific explosions and near death that was close by but luckily none of us got killed."
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"(Harry Sutherland): The memories I have is the mateship. I mean some of the blokes, their nerves used to go on them and we used to talk to each other and help each other because the strain of the continual air raids just shattered your nerves and it was hard to keep your nerves together and some of them found trouble in that regard and we used to talk to them and help them and do whatever we could and they appreciated that and that sort of thing we did that, yes."
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"(Harry Sutherland): We used to have a bit of fun. It wasn't all doom and gloom. One of the things I remember -- There was an average of ten air raids everyday in Tobruk and you were forever on the alert that there's going to be an air raid and you always had your ears open because we used to get a warning with the air raid siren and anyway, of course we had to try and keep it a bit clean so we'd go down the sea and jump into the water their and clean up a bit. Anyhow there was one of the fellows in our unit -- what we did was we got a plank and put it over the edge of the beach where the water was deep and there was a bit of a cliff. There was a plank and put it there and got big heavy rocks and stuck them on the end of the plank so the plank wouldn't give way. This fellow said, "I'll show you how to do a perfect swallow dive" so he jumped on the end of the plank and he got halfway up in the air and he's about to put his hands out to dive, when the anti-aircraft guns opened up and they went 'Bang Bang' and he put his hands over his head like that and fell into the water like a stone. (laughs) He was trying to protect his head. That was one. And another thing that I remember, there were two of the boys in our unit. One we called Popeye Mc? And the other one was called Dick Owens. And, we were at a food depot and we had to sort the food out, the bully beef from the biscuits and all rest of it and German Messerschmitt fighters used to come in every now and again and machine gun the food and it would be rotten and you wouldn't be ale to eat it. So the air raid siren went and Popeye Mc? Said to his mate Dickie Owens ' Do you want to play chicken' He said 'Well get down on the mark and he said the dug out over there he said there's about 100 yards away. He said we'll get down on the ground and as the fighter plane zooms in whoever jumps up first to run to the dugout he will be the chicken. I was already in the dugout watching them. They're down on the mark and this German Messerschmitt fighter's coming in, you could hear it getting louder and louder. So Popeye Mc? jumped up and he ran for his life to the dugout jumped in and Dickie Owens he got there alongside of him but Popeye got into the hole first. Dickie Owens said to him 'You chicken' (laughs)."
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"(Harry Sutherland): We didn't come across many Libyans at all. The civilian population had all gone. But we did come across some Libyans we got along well with them. Mostly sign language because they couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Libyan. We did meet a few and they were quite nice fellows. They used to help with the work. You see, the company I was with was known as the Seventh Division supply column, and when the destroyers (ships) came in at night, and unloaded food, we used to have to unload it onto trucks and drive it to a depot, and we just dumped it there. And then later on, that food had to be sorted out to different categories as to what it was, and the Libyans, they helped us to do that."
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"(Harry Sutherland): What did I think of the Italians and Germans? (laughs) oh well, when they were giving us a hard time we used to call them all sorts of names. But the German dive bomber pilots were very brave. They used to come down very close to the ground before they dropped their bombs and they were all pretty good soldiers. And the Italian prisoners that we took, Well the Italian prisoners the first time we met them, they were going to Egypt and we were going up the other way and some of the Italians could speak English and they said 'ey, Aussies you're going the wrong way. The Germans are up there'. And we got on quite friendly with them, yes. They were treated alright. They got the same sort of food as we got and we didn't get much water and they didn't get much water either, but they were treated the same as what we were. They weren't ill treated in any way."
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"(Harry Sutherland): Did I see anyone actually die? Well I was in a Supply Company like transport and that and I saw people that had died, yes. They were buried in a makeshift grave like while the war was on, but when the war was finished there was a proper cemetery built and they're buried up there in Tobruk."
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"(Harry Sutherland): What happened I left there on the night of the 28th of August and we went in an English cruiser called and the AB deal and shipped could sailed at 250 knots and we sailed out of Tobruk that night landed at Alexandria that day. The Polish troops took over from us. They were the ones that took over from us. When we left the Middle East we then went fighting up in the Pacific. And our whole train of thoughts were distant from the Middle East, we had to think about the Pacific then."
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"(Harry Sutherland): Well I think as they talk about Gallipoli they could teach the children in schools today about Tobruk. And that would be a good way of memorising what took place there. I'd like the people to think on ANZAC Day the soldiers that lost their lives there helping to protect Australia and that's the freedom we enjoy today through the losses that happened through those poor men in those days. Every ANZAC day our thoughts go back to the ones who got left behind there and never came home but lost their life. We feel very sad about that."
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"(Harry Sutherland): (singing) I joined this army just six weeks ago, weeks ago, weeks ago, And I found out before long I'd made a blue, because we all we ever get to eat is bully beef stew."
The audio of Harry Sutherland is followed by a poem by another one of the "Rats", Gunner J. M. Teather, read by Murray Silby.
