'Yanks flying up in the air': The World War II brawl that consumed Brisbane

In the midst of World War II, thousands of Australian and US troops beat each other up for two days. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland) Link copiedShareShare articleNovember, 1942. The eve of Thanksgiving in the United States. It's a balmy night in the Brisbane CBD, and four mates are chatting on Adelaide Street. The only indication of the maelstrom engulfing the globe is the set of uniforms they are wearing. Three Australian soldiers and one United States Army private. The exact details of what came next are clouded by myth. It is generally accepted that an American military policeman (MP) began to give the US soldier a hard time about his leave pass. That did not sit well with his new Australian friends, who proceeded to beat up the MP. Tensions had been building up like dry kindling since US warships arrived in Brisbane in December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Those tensions would spark this isolated stoush into a series of wild brawls that would consume Brisbane for the next two days and leave one Australian soldier dead. By the time of the Battle of Brisbane, the city had become the centre of the Allies' struggle against Japan in the Pacific theatre. General Douglas MacArthur had made the city his stronghold after fleeing the Philippines, and thousands of American soldiers were situated in Brisbane. Historian Judith Powell said the city was "incredibly important in all the battles that were fought in the Pacific". Brisbane became central to the Allied war effort in the Pacific theatre, with industry ballooning and air raid shelters built in the CBD. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland) "Brisbane was filled with air shelters … the schools were closed for quite a period of time. There were searchlights on Mount Coot-tha," she said. "For a time, if you think about it, Brisbane really was the front line." Relationships became strained where Australian culture clashed with American exceptionalism — the Yanks were better provisioned, better outfitted, and more attractive to Australian women. Tensions rose between servicemen as it became clear to the Australians the Americans were better paid and better outfitted. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland) "The general population were just enamoured [by] Americans. Their uniforms were slick, the Australians were all in these awful heavy woollen uniforms," Ms Powell said. "The Americans had fancy uniforms, had nylons for women, they had chewing gum. American soldiers were paid roughly double what Australian troops were, and had better provisions. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland) In a report filed in December, 1942 to the Office of Strategic Services — which would one day become the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — war correspondent J Edward Angly provided the US command with a similar description. "Australian troops resent the fact that the Americans are better dressed, more affluent, and by reason of their manners, appearance … seem to have taken over a fair share of the Australian womanhood." US Major Bill Bentson, a staff sergeant at the time, was interviewed by historian Kay Saunders in 1990 for the Queensland Homefront Oral History Project.* He recalled one Australian joke which sent a theatre into hysterics during a screening of Bambi, when the baby deer asked "where's my mother?" After several MPs joined the fracas against the Australian troops, Ms Powell said, it "all became a bit shambolic once the riot took off." More Americans began to pour out of the US postal exchange (PX) and Australian soldiers, militia members, and civilians got involved. "Things just got out of control. Everyone was drunk, undoubtedly," Ms Powell said. MacArthur's move from Melbourne to Brisbane saw thousands of American troops flood the city, leading to a cultural clash. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland) Major Bentson recounted watching the riot unfold from a distance, thinking he "better not get mixed up in this". "You'd see Yanks flying up in the air, and I said 'well, that's not for me,'" he said. He said he dashed into the MP building and posted up on the sixth floor. "I looked down and the whole perimeter of that area, up both sides of Queen Street and up both sides of Edward Street were all these Australians," he recalled. The situation continued to escalate until the American MPs were armed with shotguns to defend the PX from the Australians, who were breaking the windows and pelting the building with rocks and bottles. The demonstration of force by the Americans angered the Australians, who attempted to relieve one MP of his shotgun. In the resulting scuffle, the gun went off three times. Private Edward Sidney Webster was struck in the chest and later pronounced dead in hospital. Eight others were injured in the shooting. His military papers described his manner of death: "Killed by gun shot wound (inflicted by an American sawn-off shotgun)." The ground floor of the US PX was completely destroy

'Yanks flying up in the air': The World War II brawl that consumed Brisbane

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