A Stopover at Randwick

After disembarking from the Queen Mary on March 28, 1942, the 43rd Bomb Group marched through heavy rain to their temporary home at Randwick Racecourse, now known as Royal Randwick, located in Sydney, Australia. These last-minute accommodations required some efforts on the part of the men to make buildings more suitable for sleeping, and the enlisted men were chosen to clear out the straw and feed. They were given large gunny sacks to stuff with hay and subsequently use as mattresses. Unfortunately, most of the men woke up with red, itchy welts from bites they had received overnight from the critters living in the hay. As proper cots came in, they burned the straw to reduce the infestation.

Their sudden arrival disrupted race schedules, and it took about a month for Radwick to get their races back on track. While the men were living at the racetrack, they exercised…