HMAS Arunta I-30 / D-05 / D-130
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1.
May 17, 2011

To any surviving members of the crew who were aboard (August 29, 1942 when the "Arunta" sank the Japanese submarine RO-33 off Port Moresby, accept the sincere thanks of our family for your deeds that day. On August 6, the RO-33 (959 ton) had sank the 300 ton "Mamutu" (a coastal freighter) which was carrying my grandfather (Rev. Henry Matthews), 31 men, 20 women & 30 children away from Port Moresby to Daru to avoid Japanese bombing of Moresby.

My Grandfather was killed the day before he was due to retire from the Army Padre position in Moresby and be repatriated back to Oz: they discovered he was way past his due retirement age at 66. The Reverend Matthews was the first Church of England Martyr in TPNG during WW2. The body of the Reverend was never recovered, one person survived the ordeal.

Tony Maden
Bundaberg, Australia




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