Once Upon a Toxic Journey - The Candid Memoirs of Seaman Bernie

Short frank untold tales from Bernie Brennan, a 91 year old with a photographic memory. If comfortable silence could be heard, it would sound like this.

An Australian Royal Naval seaman, he was part of a force that was put together to dismantle the enemy after WW2 had ended. They were called the British Commonwealth Occupational Force, BCOF, and consisted of Australian, British, New Zealand and Indian service men and women. The Aussie seamen, as young as 17 were sent in to the region to patrol the waters and assist the Army’s clean up of Hiroshima, including thousands of bodies. Many died of cancer by their mid-forties. Bernie survived cancer but half his innards have been removed, leaving him incapacitated.

Hiroshima 1945

The last surviving member

Bernie has tussled with the Dept. of Veteran Affairs for Totally & Permanently Incapacitated Allowance he believes he’s entitled to, only to be repeatedly knocked back due to ineligibility. Now in his nineties, feeling lonely and at a loss, his efforts have dwindled. He has always believed he’s the last surviving member.

Turns out he’s not

Intrigued as to why the DVA would do this, I dug around a little and after a bit of research, I found a group of veterans now in their nineties, also fighting the Dept. of Veteran Affairs for reasons not dissimilar to Bernie’s.

They told me, all BCOF members have been denied a service pension because, technically, they were told, the war had ended when they were sent in. And they are still trying to get it. So I called up Bernie to tell him.

“HEY BERNIE, I SPOKE TO A GUY CALLED HARRY FENNEL WHO WAS A BCOF MEMBER AND WENT TO JAPAN TOO AND TH..”

“YEH, I REMEMBER HARRY, WE WERE ON THE NAVAL DESTROYER WARRUMUNGA TOGETHER AT THE END OF WW2. WHEN WE WENT TO JAPAN, HE WAS POSITIONED STARBOARD AND SAID IF THERE WAS ONE THING HE EVER WANTED IT WAS THE VICTORIA CROSS.”

“WTF??”

A photographic memory

With a freakishly vivid, almost photographic memory, 75 years later, Bernie shares some of his war time memories in a series of thoughtful short videos we are filming, that are often pensive, sometimes hilarious, at times sombre, but always captivating. As he recollects the names of the many comrades that he fought side-by-side while in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Australian Navy, and as he thinks back in great detail on some of the harrowing stories flying Sea Venoms and Sea Furys in the Korean War, and as he describes the loneliness he now feels, I wonder if any of these war time brothers are still alive. Armed with clues from his stories, I go in search with some heart warming results.

808 Squadron in 1955 posing before a Sea Venom on board Melbourne. Bernie is the last on the bottom row.

Japanese Hookers and a man with a giant c*ck

There is something about Bernie’s voice that just draws you in. I would turn up and hours would fly by while I sat on the edge of my chair listening to accounts of Bernie being shot down by the enemy and tales of alluring Japanese hookers at only 17, a fellow seaman with a legendary penis bigger than his forearm, what it is like to have your life spared by the enemy, and how this all came flooding back to him only a couple of years ago while being tested for Parkinson’s. It’s an amusingly head scratching experience listening to a 91 year old fully recite the Ballad of Eskimo Nell in all it’s filthy glory. This is not your every day historical documentary.

So grab yourself a drink and join me on this journey, as we follow the stories of able seaman Bernie.

Oh no wait

So the remaining BCOF members, ALL in their nineties, will be meeting up one last time at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, New South Wales, Australia in the first quarter of 2020. Bernie would love to go, and I would love him to go, and I would love to film them all together talking candidly about what they went through for their country. These are guys in their nineties that talk straight and tell it how it was, they don't choose their words carefully for the History Channel or care about how they come across or whether they have to be politically correct. They have stories to tell us, stories for us to learn from and this will almost certainly be the last opportunity we have to hear these stories as they actually happened. 
 

Why we are raising money

More than anything, so that Bernie can attend the reunion.

With his large intestine completely removed because of the cancer he got while in in Kure, Hiroshima, Bernie is incapacitated, which is why he has every day care. The money you give will go towards

• Flight tickets and accommodation for myself, Bernie and a carer to travel to and stay in Sydney to attend the reunion.
   
• I will film the event as part of video podcast series  "Once Upon a Toxic Journey - The Candid Memoirs of Seaman Bernie". The official page for the series can be found at 100actsofkindness.org,  We already have over 20 hours of gripping stories.

• With the remaining funds, I will then travel the country and search for as many 90 + year old war veterans as I can find, so I can sit down with them and film them telling accurate stories of what everyday life was like during the war, stories from men and women that were on the ground living life in colour, not black and white.
   
• An example, if I may, allow me to tell you the little I know about Kevin Cordell, 94, whom I've spoken to on the phone, but am hopeful will meet at the reunion. Kevin remembers the work he did near Hiroshima and said the devastation he saw when he arrived was horrific. There were bodies everywhere. "The smell of death was there everywhere. I still get nightmares about being there, and even smell the smell of death in my dreams. We couldn't believe the smell that was there. They sent me about two or three miles out ... where we repatriated a lot of the Japanese POWs. Those poor buggers came home and there was no city, no home and no family.

  "I think the thing that saved us was they were starving. They had eaten all the animals at the zoo and then we fed them. There was no food anywhere. You might see a butcher but his shop was in the gutter. There he was, carving up meat on the side of the footpath.

  "All in all it wasn't a great place to be."
  
  What's profound about this is that Kevin was 18. Him and his fellow recruits didn't even know they were going to Hiroshima. He knew something wasn't quite right when his teeth started to fall out.
  
  Kevin has a story that should be heard. He has many stories that should be heard, and I would love to be someone that listens intimately to him and shares them with you.
  
  Needless to say, time is of the essence.

Hiroshima 1945

About Me

My name is Drew and I left an affluent and successful corporate I.T. career, to focus on the things I love. Two of them are cinematography and philanthropy. And so I've brought them together by founding 100actsofkindness.org. 

100 Acts of Kindness is an act dedicated to reminding society that good can be spread through minor and effortless acts of kindness. 100 Acts of Kindness creates, for free, short cinematic style films that follow mindful stories that promote acts of kindness for good causes in general, individuals raising money for good causes, charities, non-profits and NGOs.

Perks

Indiegogo says I'm supposed to come up with perks. I have no idea what they could be, if you have a suggestion contact me and I'll make it happen!

Finally

If you have a good moving story you'd like to share that promotes kindness in our world, contact us at 100actsofkindness.org. Would love to hear from you.

Drew