636TH AMMUNITION ORDNANCE COMPANY
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

The 636th Ammunition Ordnance Company arrived in Brisbane on 16 June 1942 with 1st Lt. Leo Berti as its commanding Officer. The Company's first assignment was the management of the Darra Ordnance Ammunition Depot which was in a very embryonic state at that time. They setup camp about a quarter of a mile from the Ammunition Depot. Their Company motto was "Get the work done and complain afterwards".

The December 1942 Military Telephone Directory for Brisbane shows that a Detachment of the  636th Ammunition Ordnance Co., an African American unit, was based at Camp Wallaroo at that time. The 636th Ammunition Ordnance Company was still based at the Darra Ordnance Ammunition Depot in 1943.

The Company Quartette "4 Majors and a Minor" was well known to several camps and hospitals in the Brisbane area. They also broadcast several times over radio station 4BK.

At one time, during their stay at Darra, an official report claimed that some Japanese parachutists had landed within the ammunition dump. All of the men were forced to work in the area with a carbine slung across their backs. The report, evidently false, meant that this procedure lasted for only a week.

The 577th Ordnance Ammunition Company arrived in Brisbane from the United States on 13 June 1943 and camped with the 636th for a while. An outbreak of mumps hit the camp and several men of the 577th ended up in hospital. The 577th left the Darra Ordnance Ammunition Depot and boarded a train for Townsville on 1 July 1943 to work at the large Kangaroo Ordnance Depot just north of Townsville. Another source suggests that the 577th Ordnance Ammunition Company took over the Darra Ordnance Ammunition Depot from the 636th in July 1943. Can anyone confirm which information is correct?

In July 1943, the detachment of men of the 636th Ammunition Ordnance Company based at the Torrens Creek Ordnance Ammunition Depot in north Queensland were replaced by a detachment of 30 men from the 577th Ordnance Ammunition Company who had just arrived in Townsville from Brisbane on 4 July 1943. The township of Torrens Creek is located on the Flinders Highway between Charters Towers and Hughenden, about 88 kms east of Hughenden.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 30 December 2003

This page last updated 01 April 2021