Tathra's Anzac Day address commemorates those who 'served in silence'

On Thursday, April 25, at Tathra War Memorial, signal intelligence veteran Mr Howard had the honour of providing the Anzac Day address, which commemorated those who served and serve, some whose service could never be voiced publicly.

Of his 37 years of service, 10 were with the 7th Signal Regiment as a collection operator and advanced signals analyst, followed by 27 at the Australian Signals Directorate - Australia's National Signals Intelligence Agency.

During his speech, Mr Howard outlined how, in 2022, the Australian Signals Directorate declassified a large amount of top secret information obtained from Signals Intelligence operations conducted during World War II.

This public acknowledgement, 77 years after the war, revealed for the first time the extraordinary "Service in Silence" of Australian Defence personnel providing Signals Intelligence support to General Douglas MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area Command and allies.

"I would like to tell you just a little of their story and the impact their signals collection, analysis and code breaking capabilities had on the war. In particular, the story of the 'Garage Girls', a group of young women from the Australian Women's Army Service, who worked on the team decoding enemy messages," he said.

Working from the garage annex of a Brisbane suburban 1885 mansion named Nyrambla, a two-storey house requisitioned as a top-secret facility for General MacArthur, the 'Garage Girls' would work around the clock in eight hour shifts using 12 British Typex cipher machines.

"They also received and shared encrypted Allied communications to receive and pass on critical intelligence in a timely manner," Mr Howard said.

"They worked under immense pressure, processing huge volumes of Japanese traffic, knowing that any error could corrupt the decryption and render the intercept useless, putting our troops at risk.

"The work of the 'Garage Girls' and their collection, analysis and linguist colleagues played a critical, but largely unrecognised role in the Allied victories in the Pacific, including the battle of Midway in June 1942," he said.

Mr Howard explained how signals intelligence provided Japanese intentions and targeting information.

Among the 'Garage Girls' most consequential contributions was the decoding of an encrypted Japanese cable revealing the full flight schedule and aircraft details of the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, resulting in him being shot down.

After the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, a horrified Japanese officer radioed in after witnessing three B-29s flying over Hiroshima the morning of August 6, 1945.

He described as a "terrific explosion accompanied by flame and smoke occurred at an altitude of 500 to 600 metres. The concussion was beyond imagination and demolished practically every house in the city."

An Australian intercept operator near the Philippines collected and passed this message to the 'Garage Girls' for decoding which provided one of the first Japanese reports of what had happened, which Mr Howard said showed how Signals Intelligence played a hugely important role within the war effort.

"Like all those women and men who kept their vow of secrecy, they were unable to share details of their service and successes with family and friends, or have that service publicly acknowledged for decades.

"Their successors, those currently 'on watch', serve the same way. They 'Serve in Silence'," he said.