Surname: Adams

Rank: Private

Service: Australian Army NX66638

Date of Birth: 28 May 1909

Place of Birth: Gosford, NSW

Mother: Sarah Adams

Enlisted: 16 December 1940

Locality of enlistment: Bondi, NSW

Next of kin: Ivy Adams

Date of discharge: 31 July 1942

Posting of discharge: 1 Reserve Motor Transport Company

The four Adams’ boys were brothers. The family had 40 acres in the Empire Bay area. The boys were all mechanics and engineers and worked in Sydney, coming back to the area as often as they could. After the war Chester moved to Bondi to allow his son, who won a scholarship from Empire Bay School, to attend the prestigious Kings College.

Rank: Staff Sergeant

NX38663

Service: Australian Army

Date of birth: 12 April 1921

Place of birth: Paddington NSW

Enlisted: 14 July 1941

Locality of enlistment: Bondi NSW

Next of kin: Sarah ADAMS

Date of discharge: 20 February 1946

Posting at Discharge; 2/1 Fort Eng

Prisoner of war in Hakodate Camp, Japan

George was his preferred name but he is recorded as Craddock. George's service record describes his treatment as a Prisoner of War. ‘ …the general treatment was bad, daily beatings, starvation, sea travel under cramped, filthy conditions…in many cases torture, long hours of work under hard and unhealthy conditions and in area that were a military object.’

He was sent to Timor to install searchlights and was captured in February 1942. The small group of soldiers in Timor were called the Sparrow Force. He was then sent to the Bicycle camp in Batavia on the north coast of Java. The soldiers called it the Cycle Camp as it was previously the barracks of a bicycle unit of the Netherlands East Indies army. From Batavia he was sent to Changi in Singapore and then to Hakadate and Fukuoka Japan.

George died in 25 February 2008. He is buried in Point Clare cemetery.

Rank: Private

N225696

Service: Australian Army

Date of birth: 1 July 1912

Place of birth: Gosford NSW

Mother: Sarah Adams

Enlisted: 12 January 1942

Locality of enlistment: Bondi Junction NSW

Next of kin: Judith ADAMS

Date of discharge: 29 June 1942

Posting at Discharge: Darwin Details Report Eastern Command

The family told us that Ernest was in the merchant navy, although his service record states Australian Army, and that he carried cargo and supplies to the forces into hostile waters at the top end of Australia and overseas. He was an engine room oiler. After the war he worked with the others at Francis' workshop in Paddington. He also worked locally helping with logging for the local ship wright, as well as driving the local ferries in his early years. Ernest owned many oyster leases in the 1960s. His descendants are still in the area and have attended Empire Bay Public School.

Ernest died in 1980. He is buried in Palmdale Lawn Cemetery

Rank: Sergeant

9418

Service: Royal Australian Air Force

Date of birth: 10 January 1905

Place of birth: Gosford NSW

Mother: Sarah Adams

Enlisted: 27 February 1940

Locality of enlistment: Waverley NSW

Next of kin: Ernestine ADAMS

Date of discharge: 24 September 1945

Posting at Discharge 2 Central Recovery Depot

Francis Adams served in the Middle East. His record shows that he applied for a commission and although deemed technically competent the Board rejected his application because they thought he had an unsuitable personality. There is then mention of a Ministerial inquiry into his commission. Later, records show he was on a waiting list to be promoted to corporal. Earlier he had accused the military of interfering with his mail from his wife. He had made similar allegations to the Truth newspaper. Adams then asked to be sent back to Australia as he had served two and a half years in the Middle East and cited family welfare grounds. This was rejected. There are a number of entries for inquiries into his behaviour. All are stated as No Entry and not upheld. A search of terms says that No Entry means that there were no findings against Adams.

Francis had a workshop in Paddington where the other brothers also worked as mechanics.