Sydney
27 April 2003
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Tears as Canadians part with the World Youth Day cross
3 million live in poverty: Vinnies
At lunch with theWiggles
Two Australians in planning for Cologne youth day
Prelates and priests bid Fr Les farewell
Govt urged to act on reconciliation
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Govt can’t put failed asylum seekers away
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Conversation: Allan McFadden, actor, musician, composer, teacher - ‘Cheap guitar’ led to a life of theatre, music
Voice of Youth: Tolerant? Why not try forgiveness?
Book honours ‘sons’ of Pius X
Fr Michael’s life of friendship, respect
LaSalle College to open its doors to girls
Relationships at heart of religion and humanity, graduates told
‘Space for prayer’ in the heart of the city
Book honours ‘sons’ of Pius X
Marist Fr Roger Bellemore, college chaplain, reads a prayer of remembrance at the Anzac ceremony
By Marilyn Rodrigues
“People talk about the baby boomers all the time, and I am one of them,
but the most admirable generation was the one before us; because they
built the basis of what we are today,” says Tony Cuneen, history teacher
at St Pius X College, Chatswood.
But their stories are too often not heard, and lie in scraps, diary entries, letters and photos in shoes boxes at the bottom of people’s drawers - or in school archives.
That was where Tony found the photos of two former students of the college who died in action in World War II. They were only 19.
Their stories are included in his first published book, Suburban Boys at War.
The first, Jacob De Sisto, was an only son of an Italian migrant family.
He signed up as soon as he was old enough, partly motivated, his family surmises, to prove his strong allegiance to his adopted country; this was a young man who had painfully endured the nickname ‘Musso’ in the schoolyard at the start of the war.
Jacob died in Bougainville, in 1944, after fighting in a surprise attack by Japanese soldiers.
His father Michele (Mick) continued to run the family grocer’s shop at Roseville under the name De Sisto and Son until it closed in the 60s; his four surviving sisters grieve to this day.
The second boy, Anthony Gillespie, was an RAAF navigator who died when he was shot down while on an RAF mission over Germany in 1945.
Tony spoke to Anthony’s brother, Jim, and Anthony’s friend and pilot, Frank Cooper, who survived the plane crash.
“It still affects me today to think that they didn’t see their 20th year,” says Tony.
In the process of trying to piece together their stories Tony came across a number of “fascinating stories, which men and women had stored away in old shoeboxes and never spoke about to anyone anymore”.
“I love listening to the stories of people’s lives,” he says.
“When I was speaking to the war veterans, especially, I thought I had better record these men’s stories before they died.”
The resulting book was launched as part of the Anzac service at St Pius X College, Chatswood.
Surburban Boys at War tells the stories of former students of Pius X College who fought in World War II and the Korean War or were in the occupation forces in Japan.
Tony dedicated his book to all the students in the college who served in war or peacekeeping missions, and especially to the memory of Jacob De Sisto and Anthony Gillespie.
Major-General Brian How-ard, himself a former student of the college and now retired, launched the book, to which he contributed the foreword.
A local resident, World War I veteran, Mark Caux, 104, was guest of honour at the Anzac ceremony and launch.
He was introduced by a former student of the college, Terry McGuire, who is a World War II veteran.
More than 80 guests attended the launch, including many other veterans and their families, whose stories are told in the book.
It was followed by morning tea hosted by the Mayor of Willoughby, Patrick Reilly, in the Willoughby Town Hall.
Tony drew together information from more than 50 interviews with veterans, their families and their comrades, private family archives and photographic collections to compile Suburban Boys at War.
Nearly one third of the first classes at the school, then known as Christian Brothers, Chatswood, saw service of some kind.
The book contains previously unpublished first hand accounts of an air battle over Germany in 1945, the invasions of Labuan and Balikpapan, the battle of Kapyong in Korea and the capture and interrogation of a fighter pilot by the Chinese Communists in 1952.
Now Tony is working on a second volume - Warriors to Peacekeepers - that will trace former students from the Vietnam War generation to the present day.
For copies of the book - $30 plus $5 postage -call the college (02) 9411 4733 or email tonyc@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.