A bit of History
John Peters
Civilian
Muchea, Western Australia 1941-1945
John Peters was a retired schoolteacher who owned the general store in Muchea, a small town 54 km north of Perth. He spent a great deal of time listening to the radio during World War ll. But the programs he tuned in to on his short wave set were not for his own entertainment. Pete, as he was known since his days with the 3rd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli, was trying to find out what had become of his son, John, who had gone missing at the fall of Singapore.
So he listened each night to the mocking voice of ‘Tokyo Rose’ as she announced details of Australians captured by the Japanese. He realised that a good many other people similarly would be worried about missing relatives, so he began to make a note of the names mentioned by Tokyo Rose and passed on news to others. He also discovered other frequencies where this information was available.
Early in the piece I recognised, and very soon had definite proof, that these messages were authentic enough as far as letting people know their loved ones were at least alive.
He kept meticulous records of names and the times and dates of broadcasts and referred to them when people began writing to him as a source of information on missing relatives. His wife, Blanche, and daughter, Joan, worked with him.
Although our self-imposed task has been most exacting and very often greatly inconvenient—we have not missed a session that we knew about—and there are nine of these a day now.
Joan recalls helping her parents, listening each night to ‘Tokyo Rose’ and others.
I used to find her voice very galling. She had an aggravating, mocking tone of voice but we soon got used to it.
As he listened to ‘Tokyo Rose’ and others, Pete would scribble down on precious pieces of paper the names of soldiers and any messages that have been relayed. First he would attempt to contact the soldiers’ families by telephone. He would also check the phone book for addresses. If he found any, he could send on news and messages by putting the envelopes directly into the open mailbag of the, train at Muchea station, which stopped each night between 1 am and 3 am.
If he was unable to locate a phone number or address—and there were not many people who had telephones during the war—he would ring up the local police station to pass on the information.
We were fortunate in having one of the really good short wave radio sets for the job and the fact that most of my work is at home—l am storekeeper here—and without these two conditions it would not be done.
Pete used old ledgers, journals, circulars and any other pieces of paper he could lay his hands on. His daughter Joan recalls that paper was scarce and much valued during the war.
Everybody saved paper and envelopes for him.
Many people who received the notes would write back to thank him enclosing a stamp to help pay for the cost, while others donated small amounts of money and urged him to keep up the service.
All the time he continued these endeavours, he was hoping to hear about his own missing son but it wasn’t until November 1945 that he finally learned John had been killed in the fall of Singapore.
Meanwhile, hundreds of families received news of their loved ones thanks to Pete’s voluntary service. Joan has a collection of 820 letters sent by grateful families from all over Australia.
Your letter of the 8th regarding my son, Phil, caused a thrill to many homes. I had heard from the Department of the Army about two weeks ago that my lad was a prisoner of war in Malaya, but the other boys mentioned, namely Gregor McDonald, Halwin Buttsworth and Bill Bell, had not been heard of, so you can imagine the joy amongst the families of those three boys when we phoned them the contents of you letter.
Another letter from a grateful mother read in part:
I wish to express to you my sincere thanks and gratitude for your kindness in sending on the message, which you heard last night from Saigon, sent by my son of whom I have had no tidings since the fall of Singapore. You can just imagine how thankful I was to get the message, which the local constable gave within a few minutes of receiving It from you.
News of a missing son prompted this mother to write:
It gave us untold pleasure to know that our dear one was safe & well, and feel that you are doing a great job in letting relatives know of these letters.
And another mother was ecstatic at hearing news:
I received your most welcome letter yesterday (28-8-43) & it is the most wonderful news we have ever had. Yes, that is our soldier son XX36828 Gnr L.H. Howell. The last letter we had from him was 27th Jan 1942 from Malaya since then silence, but the news you have sent us is wonderful news & we are all overjoyed by it.
Many wives learned from Pete that husbands were still alive as POWs:
l was delighted to receive your letter today and words cannot express my feelings when l heard the good news of my husband, and to know he is safe and well.
Letters poured in not only from all over Australia but from New Zealand, South Africa, the British Isles and even one from New Guinea.
After the war Pete continued to run his store. Because he spoke four languages he also taught English to the migrants who arrived to work in the timber mill at Muchea. He spent many hours helping them with tax returns, writing their letters and did all the estimates of the acreage cleared for those on farms. He also acquired the local post office to go with his store until Joan and her husband, Wally Edwards, took over the store in 1948. Pete continued with the Post Office for some years but was taken ill with cancer in 1956 and died in 1961.
There are hundreds of families throughout Australia and beyond who have reason to be grateful for the many hours Pete and his family dedicated to distributing news of missing relatives.
