On This Day in History: December 1

Teddy Sheean goes down fighting

Subscribers can listen to the audio of today’s post here.

Those Australian farmers were some brave lads in fighting those world wars. Born in Tasmania in 1923, Teddy Sheean was only 18 when he went down fighting the Japanese so his mates could make their getaway. It only took 78 years for him to be properly recognized.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: December 1, 1942--

Sheean held the rank of Ordinary Seaman, but there was little ordinary about the man. He enlisted with the Royal Australian Naval Reserve a few months after turning 17, before the Pacific theatre of World War II began. For the second half of 1942 he served on a corvette (a small warship) named Armidale as a guy who loaded the antiaircraft guns. They were engaged in uneventful escort duties, until one day things became most eventful.

That day was December 1, 1942. The Japanese had occupied the island of Timor a couple hundred miles north of West Australia. The Armidale was dispatched to Timor on a resupply and evacuation mission. During the mission the ship was spotted by Japanese aircraft. The aircraft dropped torpedoes, two of which struck the Armidale, and she began to sink. Continues below …

Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead on clicking the green button. That expression is attributed to Admiral Farragut of the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. It’s also the name of a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album.

The crew was ordered to abandon ship. Men leapt into the water and Sheean leapt into action, freeing a life raft for his shipmates. While doing so, the Japanese aircraft began to strafe the men in the water and on the ship with machinegun fire. Sheean was hit in the chest and back and rather than die just yet, he got mad.

To protect the men in the water, he crawled over to the 20mm antiaircraft cannon on the aft of the ship, strapped himself in, and started giving the attacking aircraft hell. Due to his counterattack, he shot down at least one of the Japanese planes and damaged two others. His valiant effort prevented the Japanese from continuing their attack on the men floundering in the water.

Here is where it gets really hardcore. Some of the rounds in the cannon were tracer fire, which allow the guy on the gun to see where his bullets are going. The men in the water saw tracer fire still erupting out of the water as the ship went down. In other words, while Teddy Sheean was going down with the ship, drowning as his lungs filled with seawater, he was still firing the motherfucking cannon at the Japanese aircraft. He went Captain Ahab on the enemy, literally spitting his last breath at thee.

Only 49 of the 149 sailors on the Armidale survived her sinking. Despite many of the survivors proclaiming they owed their lives to Sheean, recognition was slow in coming. Twice, efforts were made to secure him the Victoria Cross for Australia, the nation’s highest military honor, but were rejected. Finally, in 2020, an inquiry said yeah, give the guy the fucking medal. Queen Elizabeth II approved it in August of 2020.

Thanks, Michelle, for the suggestion of today’s topic.

Support keeping this daily column free and get access to subscriber only content:

Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.