Liao Lee
Liao Lee
Lee, Liao
WWII Roll of Honour; HistoryNT; Second World War, 1939-1945
0000-00-00
Storekeeper
MV Neptuna
1942-02-19
MV Neptuna
Hong Kong Memorial, China
Lee Liao was a 38 year old storekeeper on the MV Neptuna. Further information on his life has yet to be discovered. The Neptuna had a Hong Kong registration, and had been doing the Hong Kong - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) run, which explains her predominantly Chinese crew. She arrived in Darwin Harbour loaded with two hundred depth charges and a very large quantity of anti-aircraft shells for the Navy and Army. When the Japanese air attack began the Neptuna was berthed alongside the main wharf awaiting maintenance. The first bomb hit the ship below the waterline and she began taking on water; she then received a direct hit causing her to catch on fire. When the fire entered No. 3 and No. 4 hatches, the Neptuna blew apart, creating a huge mushroom cloud caused by the explosion of the ammunition she was carrying. Most of the surviving ship's company were rescued from the wharf and the harbour and taken aboard HMAS Platypus, a depot ship being used as a casualty clearing station. Thirty-six of the ship's crew were killed, including the Master, Captain William Michie.
Metadata: Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
English
Second World War, 1939-1945; Bombing of Darwin; Roll of Honour; Northern Territory history
image/tiff
No known copyright
Library & Archives NT
https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/pubic-domain/pdm
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2599904/%20LEE%20LIAO/ [Commonwealth War Graves]; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=334209&S=9&R=0 [Darwin Raids - Casualty Lists and Enquiries]; https://hdl.handle.net/10070/281870 [PictureNT : PH1073/0017, MV Neptuna, Chris Meldrum Collection]|https://hdl.handle.net/10070/844064 [WWII Military Units : MV Neptuna]
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/839807
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/839807
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/840377