Townsville

On the morning of October 23 we stopped at Townsville in northern Australia for fuel. Lady Bird and I attended services at the Cathedral Church of St. James. Then we visited with the mayor and the townspeople. Thoughts of bygone days filled my mind as I passed through the streets of Townsville, but the people were as warm and wonderful as they had been during my stay there a quarter of a century before.*

The visit to Townsville was filled with nostalgia for me. I remembered very well staying there on June 8, 1942. I shared a room with a brave and friendly officer, Colonel Francis Stevens. Early the next morning we flew to Port Moresby in New Guinea, and from there we took off in separate planes. Colonel Stevens never returned from that flight; his plane was shot down by a Japanese Zero.