US MILITARY CEMETERY LUTWYCHE
BRISBANE, QLD DURING WWII

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The US Military established a cemetery plot at the Lutwyche Cemetery on Gympie Road, Lutwyche, Brisbane during WWII. It was located at the south east corner of the Lutwyche Cemetery fronting on to Gympie Road.

During WWII, Americans who were killed or died in Australia were buried in local cemeteries, but in 1947, the bodies from around Australia were exhumed and temporarily stored at Mausoleum No 4 at Redbank west of Brisbane. Then eventually all of these bodies were taken back to Hawaii. I assume the bodies at Lutwyche were not relocated to the USAF Cemetery at Ipswich before they were returned to the US. It is reported that American Negro soldiers erected a four meter high canvas fence around the US cemetery while the bodies were exhumed.

The US ship "Goucher Victory" arrived in Brisbane in November 1947 to take  the bodies back to America. The work to remove the bodies finished by 20 December 1947. A ceremony was held in the Brisbane City Hall on 22 December 1947 to honour the American dead. A coffin containing the body of an unknown American soldier was paraded ceremoniously through Brisbane to Newstead Wharf watched by approximately 30,000 Brisbane residents. The last 1,800 caskets containing US servicemen left Brisbane before Christmas 1947.

Today the American Cemetery area at Lutwyche still remains empty.

Note:- The "Goucher Victory" was renamed to "Sgt. Howard E. Woodford", attached to the U.S. Army Transportation Corps in 1947. 

 

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This page first produced 5 June 2004

This page last updated 25 January 2020