HMAS VENDETTA

Harry Kirkman, 65

Harry Kirkman's greatest escape during the Indonesian confrontation was fleeing "an angry mob brandishing machetes and screaming death to all white men". He turned the wrong corner on leave in Singapore during 1965 and walked straight into "a fully blown race riot where local natives were running towards us whacking any white fella with big stick", he said, "and it looked like curtains". The mob wounded some of his mates and attacked an English officer "beating him to death with bamboo sticks, so I turned and bolted faster than I've ever run in my life to get the hell out of there".

Joining the navy at 15 because "it seemed the best way to help Australia", he served during the confrontation as gunnery officer on HMAS Vendetta, looking for communist insurgents in the Malacca Straits.

"We were the only ship between the communist enemy and non-communist Malays," he said. He tailed 80 Indonesian communist vessels, "loaded and fired very heavy 4.5-inch shells" at enemy ships and "had a few direct hits". His biggest catch was arresting an inconspicuous enemy vessel travelling towards Malaya with 200 Indonesian communists hiding on board. "We held them on the upper deck chained together for five days, interrogated them and turned them over to the Malayan government. That's how we helped win that war."

After the war he served throughout Asian waters on escort vessels Bandanna and Duchess before "stress got to me. Eventually I got a free discharge because they could not control me".

He is married and lives in Sydney.

(Note:  Kirkman is not 65 years old - he was born 1st August 1948)

Kirkman has completed other written statements relating to the same or similar incidents, here are excerpts from four other statements he has written.

Statement 1. Undated

On the 29th November we sailed for another patrol returning to Singapore on the 4th December. During this patrol an Indonesian boat with 200 odd Indonesian Army personnel on board were arrested and these people were chained to the Quarter Deck where they were interrogated by Malaysian Army personnel for 5 days. The upper deck was washed down morning and night using fire hoses to clean the area and the people the whole time they were on board. I remember one time during our trip to the Far East I was ashore in Singapore sitting near the gates outside the wharves having a few drinks and something to eat when it seemed like thousands of Singapore natives came screaming up the street banishing bamboo sticks and attacking any British servicemen they laid eyes upon which also included Australian Sailors. Not 15 feet from where I was sitting I witnessed the death of a British Sailor from these people bashing him to the head with their sticks and kicking him. I remember that our leave was suspended until we set sail, which was delayed, due to the number of our ships company being injured during these riots.

 

Statement 2. February 22^nd 2004

During this patrol we engaged an Indonesian boat with 200 odd Indonesian Army personnel on board whom we arrested and these people were chained to the Quarter Deck where they were interrogated by Malaysian Army personnel.

 

These people were on board for 5 days and we were told that the Quarter Deck was out of bounds. Like all 17 year olds, curiosity killed the cat and the temptation was too great and many sailors investigated what was happening on the Quarter Deck.

 

Various times over those 5 days I witnessed these people being tortured by the Malaysian Army. They tortured women, children and even the old folks relentlessly for the 5 days. It scared my brain for life what I saw it was gruesome.

 

We sailed for another patrol on December 8^th returning on December 29^th. On the 10^th December we were ordered to sail toward Raffles Light where we met up with over 80 Indonesian War ships sailing up and down the waterway at full speed.

 

We were the only allied ship in the area for nearly 4 hours and we were at action stations the whole time as we were unsure what the Indonesian's intentions were so we sailed up and down the coast with them.

 

The first time I saw these ships was when I had completed my watch in the boiler room and when I came to the upper deck and looked over to the Indonesian Navy sailing what looked like a hundred yards of our starboard I was extremely scared that I would not see home again.

 

When you are 17 and you are onboard a Destroyer in the Royal Australian Navy nothing gets your adrenalin pumping faster than being on board and traveling at full speed, but when you add the enemy also traveling side by side at full speed, words cannot explain how one felt.

 

Fortunately 2 of their ships run aground and the British Air force flew over roughly at the same time followed by additional war ships joining us, but those 4 hours I thought it will be the last I would see.

 

We were part of the Strategic Reserve for another 2 months and we completed another 2 patrols of Borneo before returning home on March 12 ^th 1966. During this period I remember one time when I was ashore in Singapore sitting near the gates to the wharves leading to the HMAS Vendetta having a few drinks and something to eat when it seemed like thousands of Singapore natives came screaming up the street banishing sticks and attacking any British servicemen they laid eyes upon which also included Australian Sailors.

----- Original Message -----

From: Harry Kirkman

To: information@anzmi.net

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 4:47 PM

Subject: Harry Kirkman

 

Guys. I received this letter today in a express post envelope which did not display a return address and as you can see this letter was not signed but as a matter of courtesy I have decided to answer the questions raised. There was a Singapore riot in 1965 and I have no idea how much of Singapore it affected but I was at the gates to HMS Terror at a late hour in the night enjoying my last beer and a bite to eat when these guys came roaring through the little town banding ( sic) bamboo cans and hitting every white man in the joint and may I say I did not hang around long at all. We were asked to sail in the morning as a precaution although I believe the ships log does not confirm this or so I was led to believe when Rightways did an investigation on a fellow sailor who lodged a claim in Queensland. The torture of prisoners on board Vendetta, let me say that we took on about 70 guys (women & Children included) and we had them on board for 4 days. These guys were chained on the upper deck although Rightways says that they were left on their boat and the Jimmie (2IC) skippered the boat and we left the Indonesians onboard their vessel. When did the Australian Navy ever leave prisoners on their own vessel when it has been arrested? When we had these guys on board where did they use the toilet? Remember this was a destroyer with 336 sailors on board and we had no females on board in the 60's. When did the Navy allow the Jimmie to leave the ship when we were at action stations as we were still on patrol in an operational area. Firing on Indonesian naval vessels well I guess the crap they used when mounting an invasion of Malaya could be called an "Indonesian navy vessel" as they were manned by Indonesians and in some cases by their Military people and we certainly sank 2 or three of these vessels whilst we were on patrol. The flotilla of Indonesian Naval war ships occurred when we were on duty and were called to sea. We left many sailors behind on the beach as at the time the lucky few were enjoying a "ban yan" (beach bar-b-q) and we did not have time to pick the guys up. When we got to sea I was on duty in the boiler room and when we reached the Indonesian ships we began going full ahead, stop, full ahead etc and I popped up onto the upper deck to have a look and there were many Indonesian war ships not 1500 Meters from us and we were sailing with them up and down the coast. Rightways says there were 2 Indonesian ships involved but can I say that 2 had ran aground with 1 being re floated the next day and the rusting hull of the other is still there today.  I joined the Navy in 1964 and I was 15 years young. When I joined the Vendetta I was an ordinary seaman. I have never made a claim to being a gunnery officer. I am extremely proud to say to all and sundry that I was a stoker. I have also added that I did not climb the ladder above that of a stoker because I had a shit attitude. Who ever lays claim that I have ever posed as a gunnery officer is a bloody liar. You be the judge in this matter but be assured if I can take legal action against you I will not hesitate if you print a defamatory statement concerning me.   Cheers Harry Kirkman Armed Services Assistance Centre Level 4 Advocate (TIP-DVA) PO Box 285 Mount Druitt 2770 Phone/Fax #  (02) 9832 4898 Mobile # 0405 358 248  Email Address bighasa1@optusnet.com.au   "Providing free assistance in relation to pensions welfare, compensation and entitlements to serving and ex-serving members of the Australian Defence Force and their families". Total Commitment for the Veteran Community.    On receipt of our letter Kirkman broadcast it throughout the veteran community, this resulted in numerous individuals rushing to Kirkmans defence on the basis that he is a friend and an honourable man.  In particular the letter from Mr Ray Brown the President of the Injured Service Persons Association (ISPA) stands out, he, without knowing anything about the case abused us and said we should be chasing people making false Post Traumatic Stress Disorder claims, he then degrades the service of logistics personnel and RAN people involved in the Gulf wars.   See his email Below:   From: Ray Brown [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 4:36 PM To: information@anzmi.net Subject: allegations To the spineless coward who questions others,   Since there is no way of defending one self to people who dont have the intestinal fortitude to put their name to correspondence, I would like o pass on the white feather to you & your cohorts.   Maybe exposing ptsd frauds would gain you more widespread support or is that too close to home? Fraudelant claims is more $ draining & more widespread than a fake veteran.   You liken yourselfs to ordinance & cooks who say they went to war but were kms away from the battle such as navy guys in gulf 1 & 2 who were 100's of kms away from battle.   Mr Brown, we hope after  reading this case you have learned to shut up until you know what you are talking about.  We would also hope that you will apologise to "ordinance" (sic) cooks" and "Navy Guys in gulf 1 & 2" for your disparaging remarks

Now we will study records from HMAS VENDETTA's FESR service to see if Kirkman's version of events gel with the official version. The documents we have are:

Reports of Proceedings (ROPs)

The Captain of HMAS Vendetta sent detailed monthly reports to his Admiral, these reports are known as "Reports of Proceedings" ROPs, they include details of day-by-day occurrences about his ship, including movements, operations, morale, social occasions and any other activities. We have copies of each of these reports for the entire deployment.

 

Statement from the Captain of HMAS VENDETTA

Vice Admiral D W Leach AC CBE LVO RAN (Rtd) in 1965 held the rank of Commander and was the Captain of VENDETTA, we have a statement from Admiral Leach denying any knowledge of a riot in Singapore during VENDETTA's FESR service.

 

Statement from the Executive Officer HMAS VENDETTA

Admiral M W Hudson AC RAN (Rtd) (now deceased) was the executive officer of VENDETTA in 1965 holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander, we have statements from Admiral Hudson detailing events surrounding Kirkman's statements about the "mistreatment of Two Hundred communist prisoners of war".

 

Research from Commodore PM Mulcare RAN Rtd

This organisation summed up VENDETTA's 1965 1966 FESR operations as follows: "For HMAS Vendetta and her ship's company, the periods spent on patrol were generally uneventful."

Research by ANZMI investigators

 

ANALYSIS OF HARRY'S WAR STORY

 

We can now compare Kirkman's statements with evidence we have gathered. Here are the Kirkman claims that we say are lies

 

Claim 1.

Involved in a race riot in Singapore on or about the 20 November 1965 or March 1966 (The dates differ depending on who is telling the story)  " not 15 feet from where I was sitting I witnessed the death of a British Sailor from these people bashing him to the head with their sticks and kicking him. I ran for my life with only a few minor bruises and was picked up by the Shore Patrol and whisked back to HMAS Vendetta. I remember that our leave was suspended until we set sail, which was delayed, due to the number of our ships company who were injured during these riots" .

 

The Truth

HMAS VENDETTA during this cruise tied up in Singapore on eleven different occasions and visited Hong Kong twice. There was no civil unrest in Singapore during late 1965, early 1966.   We can find no historical evidence where a British Naval person was killed and Australian Sailors injured.    There is no mention in any of the seven, Captain's Monthly Reports of Proceedings (RoPs) of injuries to VENDETTA sailors resulting in a delay of departure from Singapore. There is no doubt that had this event occurred it would have been included in a monthly RoPs.  For instance - The Vendetta report for October 1965 reported that "whilst tied up in Hong Kong on the 10 ^th October 1965, shore leave was restricted for the crew, because of the possibility of civil unrest during the celebration of the Founding of Communist China ."  On this occasion, a Concert Group entertained the crew on the wharf; this was paid for from the ships welfare fund. Because of the concern by the Captain about civil unrest in Hong Kong it is most unlikely that he would have not mentioned civil unrest in Singapore where his crew were directly involved, some being injured and a British Naval person killed.

 

We believe the episode is a lie that has very serious implications for Kirkman and others. We are reliably advised that Kirkman and other sailors from the same ship may have conspired to defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs by using this and other imagined events in claims for benefits.

 

The history of Singapore Riots is  well documented as part of the history of Singapore. There have been no riots involving Singapore and the United Kingdom.  

 

1. 23 April 1955 there was a workers union dispute, known as the Hock Lee Bus Depot Riots in which 2 police, one student and a journalist were killed

2. 21 Jul 1964 on the birthday of the prophet Muhammad a race riot developed between Chinese and Malay groups. There were two distinct elements to this riot as there was a second flare up in September 1964.

3. 11 Mar 1965 a terror bomb exploded at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Orchard Road, 2 girls were killed.

Singapore's then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared on 9 August 1964 that Singapore was a sovereign, democratic and independent State. Singapore had no problem with the United Kingdom when Kirkman first arrived in Singapore in late August 1965. There are no records of racial tension between "Singapore natives and "White fellas" (as described by Kirkman). The Captain of the VENDETTA knew nothing about the "riot", his injured sailors, or the delay in sailing because of their injuries. Any delays in sailing would have been included in the RoPs, for instance in paragraph 30 of his February 1966 report the Captain says:

 

"VENDETTA, in company with H.M.A.S. DUCHESS, sailed from Singapore Naval Base at 2200 on the evening of the 24 ^th bound for Darwin, the original time of sailing having been delayed four hours by the successes of sailors from both ships in the Boxing Finals of MILLSPORT.

 

Claim 2.

Held Two Hundred communist insurgents including women and children chained to the deck of VENDETTA where they were gruesomely tortured.

 

Para 27 of the November 65 RoP, says nothing in relation to the 200 prisoners chained to the quarterdeck.  

"After a command Team briefing at Fleet headquarters on Friday 26th, VENDETTA sailed for MALACCA Straights patrol on Monday 29th, expecting to return to Singapore by Saturday 4th December.  The highlight of the patrol to date has been the assistance in the arrest of an Indonesian coaster by K.D SRI PERLIS (a Malaysian Naval vessel) off Cape Rachado on the evening of the 30th November. This was reported in my Restricted Message D.T.G. 020945Z"

 

Paras 3 and 4 of the December 65 Rops.

 "The first four days of December were spent on Malacca Straits patrol in the Sembilan Islands, Cape Rachado, and Pulau Bengkalis areas. the ship refueled from F.F.A. EDDYROCK on Thursday 2nd"

 

"At 0800 on Saturday 4th the Bengkalis deterrent patrol was completed and VENDETTA proceeded to Singapore berthing at 1445 on HMAS DUCHESS at number 6 Berth"

   

Claim 3.

Served during the confrontation as gunnery officer on HMAS Vendetta.

Kirkman was an Able Seaman Mechanical Engineer or better known as a Stoker.  Stokers don't fix engines or do any mechanical work they are the roust-a-abouts of the engine room. If guns were fired their "Action Station" may be helping to supply ammunition from ships magazine to Guns. A Gunnery Officer is a commissioned officer in the Royal Australian Navy, Kirkman was a junior sailor, who would not have been allowed anywhere near a Ships Gun. In fact there were only two Gunnery Officers onboard VENDETTA and they were the Captain and the Executive Officer.  Kirkman says in his statement number 4.  "Whoever lays claim that I posed as a gunnery officer is a bloody liar".   That aspect was very clearly reported in the Melbourne Age and the reporter wrote what he was told by Kirkman.

   

Claim 4.

"HMAS Vendetta did not engage, nor did hostile forces engage her, during Confrontation.  The ship did conduct what was reported as a naval gunfire support firing exercise in Wallace Bay in North Borneo on 12 November 1965.

The RoP said in relation to the fire support exercise. Paragraph 15 to November 1965 RoP – " On completion of patrol on the night of 11/12 ^th VENDETTA anchored in the approaches to WALLACE BAY for a naval gunfire support firing exercise.  This was successfully carried out, spotting being provided by the Royal Artillery Regiment."

 

Claim 5.

On the 10^th December we were ordered to sail toward Raffles Light where we met up with over 80 Indonesian War ships sailing up and down the waterway at full speed .  We were unsure what the Indonesian's intentions were so we sailed up and down the coast with them…….. . when I came to the upper deck and looked over to the Indonesian Navy sailing what looked like a hundred yards of our starboard I was extremely scared that I would not see home again.

 

Well Harry the Indonesian Navy never had 80 ships to sail up and down at full speed. If they did it would have been one of the greatest Naval Armadas since the Spanish Fleet had a go at Britain in the year 1588.  Let's see what the Captain of HMAS VENDETTA said about this "massive international incident"

 

 para 8 of the RoPs for the month of December 1965

"A day patrol between Tanjong Ayam anbd St. John's Light was carried out on Thursday 9th shifting to the Horsburgh Light area at dusk.  Two Indonesian Warship sightings were made that day, one Riga and one Kronstadt proceeding westwards from the Rhio Strait."

 

para 11 of the December 1965 Report

 

At no time did any of the Indonesian vessels make threatening manoeuvres or gestures towards VENDETTA whilst being photographed in the embarrassing situation of having run aground.  Harry's declaration describing a major naval operation of an extremely dangerous nature is false

 

This is simply another episode of falsely declaring a "Severe Stressor" type situation for the purpose of claiming a benefit from The Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

Claim 6.

We were the only ship between the communist enemy and non-communist Malays.

HMAS VENDETTA was part of a fleet of Commonwealth ships operating in the region as Strategic Reserve Service (SRS).   In fact there were twenty six other ships three submarines and one Shackleton Bomber (used for aerial observation) that we were able to count. These were :

RAN               HMAS, Duchess, Ibis, Teal, Snipe, Sydney,

RN                 HMS, Tamar, Euryalas, Ark Royal, Falmouth,

                      Brighton, Lanton, Woolaston,    Blackpool,

                      Albion, Manxman, Nubian, Triumph, Dido

RN Subs        Oberon, Ambush, Anchorite

RFA                Tide Reach, Gold Ranger, Eddyrock, Wave Sovereign,
 

KD                   Hang Tuah

SOML             3507

HMNZS          Taranaki

MV                  Tivoli            

RAF                Shackleton Bomber

 

Summation

 Harry Kirkman and his co-conspirators seem to subscribe to the theory "the more often something is said the more likely it will be believed", and also "the bigger the lie the more likely it will be believed." Three separate sailors from the 1965-1966 HMAS VENDETTA FESR operations have formally declared "Stressor" inducing events occurred whilst they were crew on VENDETTA. It is most likely that they have all knowingly made false declarations to gain benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

We are reliably advised that in the 1960s era Statutory Declarations were a very common document in the Royal Australian Navy; any minor indiscretion could be rectified by a few slick words on a "Stat Dec". Because of such common usage, perhaps some sailors have forgotten that the law will not be your friend if you are detected knowingly lying on a Statutory Declaration.  

 

The small print shown on a New South Wales Statutory Declaration says as follows:

 

"A person who wilfully makes a false statement in a statutory declaration under the Statutory Declarations act 1959 as amended is guilty of an offence against the Act, the punishment for which is a fine not exceeding $200 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both if the offence is prosecuted summarily, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding four years if the offence is prosecuted upon indictment .

But that is just the start, followed by all the criminal offences committed by the perpetrators of these false claims if benefits have been paid to anyone, as a result of the claims, by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

It matters not whether the statements on the Declarations were accepted as true or rejected as false by the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), what matters is that Kirkman and others may have knowingly made false declarations for the purpose of gaining benefit from the DVA.

Kirkman not only committed a false history of HMAS VENDETTA's 1965/66 FESR service to Statutory Declarations he also made statements to the Age newspaper to enhance his war service with information that fitted nicely into the lies put forward by Statutory Declaration to claim benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Harry Kirkman, holds responsible leadership positions in the veteran community, if you type his name into an internet search engine he appears in many different Australian veteran support roles. Initiating false Statutory Declarations about his "war" service is hardly a good trait for a leader, especially when his lies bring disrepute to the senior service and brands his Captain as a war criminal, because, according to Kirkman, the Captain allowed the torture of women and children on his quarterdeck between the 29 ^th November 1965 and 4^th December 1965.  

We have received numerous reports about Kirkman similar to the one shown below:

"Harry Kirkman, whilst the sub-branch President of St Mary's, openly bragged to all and sundry that he was made a TPI (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated) was involved in a riot whilst serving on HMAS Vendetta during which a British MP was killed. He and a number of sailors were posted to Vendetta before being escorted back onto Vendetta".

 

It is common knowledge that Harry Kirkman and another sailor  made Statutory Declarations in support of a veteran claiming a severe stressor for the "riot incident".   These Statements are known to be false.  The riot did not happen, nor were Two Hundred communists including women and children tortured on the deck of HMAS VENDETTA,

We have on our web site another sailor who produced "Severe Stressor" evidence "to order", for DVA claims, this is the infamous "China" Hammal, who will remain on our site for the rest of his life as will Kirkman and when we get around to it the other Kirkman conspirators.

There is no place in the veteran community for dishonest leaders. Kirkman has pushed himself to a position of leadership and then taken advantage of his influence and position to gain benefits from DVA for himself and others.

CONCLUSIONS

The weight of evidence is very much against Kirkman.  Evidence from:

1.Three high ranking Naval Officers.

2. The  Office of the Naval History Section, Sea Power Centre

    Canberra.

3. History of riots in Singapore and the Straits Times newspaper

4. Reports from HMS Terror where the "riot" was supposed to

   have occurred

5. Reports of Proceedings from HMAS VENDETTA.

6. Statutory Declarations from individuals.

7. ANZMI Investigators.

The above evidence shows that Kirkman is a liar and fraudster and that he has conspired with others in his fraudulent behaviour.

Kirkman by his false statements has brought dishonour on the Officers and crew of VENDETTA and on the Navy generally.

Another side effect of this unhappy saga is that by his fraudulent actions as a pensions advocate, Kirkman may have brought the Department of Veterans' Affairs Training & Information Program ( TIP) into disrepute.  There are a large number of very dedicated men and women TIP trained Pension Officers and Advocates who have voluntarily taken on this onerous task of assisting ex and serving members of the Australian Defence Force  who are in great need of representation .  It is  very important that the scurrilous few who defraud the system are brought to light by the veteran's community themselves and the Federal Government guarantees that offenders are prosecuted to preserve the integrity of the Veterans Pensions system.

Fraudulent claims clog up the system and inhibit the ability of veterans in genuine need to gain access to that which they are entitled. Kirkman has thumbed his nose at the veteran system, now it is the turn of the system to exhibit its reaction to lies and fraudulent claims by taking all the necessary action to bring Kirkman and his accomplices to justice.

Remember Newtons third law: 

- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - 

Let's hope that in this instance the "equal and opposite reaction" comes from - The veteran community - Department of Veterans Affairs - The State and Federal Police and that retribution is swift and meaningful.