Darwin bombing not given its due: gunman

A World War II gunman is calling for a national remembrance day to be formalised in honour of the first attack on Australian soil at Darwin in 1942, which claimed about 250 lives and left almost 400 wounded.

Port Kennedy 92-year-old Peter Hackett was an army gunman stationed at Darwin the day it was bombed by the Japanese and is disappointed more is not done to recognise the first attack on the country's home turf.

At 19 years old, Mr Hackett spent 27 months away from home on deployment to the Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery 2nd Battery, where he trained to operate heavy guns and gained experience as a fire control officer in the command post.

Mr Hackett remembered being on guard the day Darwin was bombed.

"Darwin was declared a fortress and the whole town fled to Adelaide River afterwards," he said.

"We were known as the disposables - we had to remain there no matter what happened."

According to the Australian National Archives, the two air raids on Darwin were led by the commander responsible for the Pearl Harbour attack 10 weeks earlier, and involved 54 land-based bombers and 188 attack aircraft.

The raids killed at least 243 people and up to 400 were wounded.

Some 20 military aircraft were destroyed, eight ships were sunk in the harbour and most civil and military facilities in Darwin were damaged.

The Japanese air raids continued until November 1943, with total of 64 attacks.

In between raids, Mr Hackett recalled hours of morning and night gun training, digging ditches, laying barbed wire and building roads, as well as hunting crocodiles, kangaroos and catching fish for better food supplies.

He said his time in Darwin left him with irreparable damage to his hearing and eyesight.

One day while in charge of the guns, Mr Hackett ordered a switch, but forgot where he was standing and suffered the deafening sounds of exploding ammunition. As for his eyes, the troops' provisions for sun protection were limited and most did not wear sunglasses.

He said whenever the Japanese flew over, they would come in with the sun behind them, meaning every time the troops searched for the enemy in the sky, they looked straight into the sun.

Mr Hackett lost his left eye to cancer and has limited vision in his right eye.

Mr Hackett said he enjoyed the camaraderie, especially being stationed at Rockingham when the battery was disbanded in 1944.

It was there he met his wife Bernice at a military social dance.

Mr Hackett said the anniversary of the bombing, Feburary 19, was marked with due respect in Darwin but should be widly recognised as a milestone event in Australia's history.