Private Claude Anthony Skimmings, 55/53rd Australian Infantry Battalion
Australian War MemorialClaude Skimmings was born in 1919, the eldest child of seven children to Charles Andrew and Mary Eva Skimmings.
He spent his early years in Lismore before eventually moved to Burringbar. He worked as a labourer for seven years for Mr O’Keefe, the local bandmaster.
On 24 April 1941, Claude was mobilised for service, initially as part of the 41st Battalion. He was transferred to the 53rd Battalion and sent to Ingleburn.
There, he began regularly writing letters to his family at home, full of forbearance and good humour: “Keep your chin up and keep smiling as I feel as happy as Larry … they have christened me ‘Happy’ here now … so you may see I am not down-hearted over anything.”
In November, the 53rd Battalion was reinforced with men from other units and in December, it received over a hundred 18-year-olds who had just been called up for duty. They sailed on the Aquitania shortly after, to Port Moresby.
The 53rd arrived on 3 January 1942 as part of the defence of Port Moresby, and were assigned to Boera, Napa Napa, and the Napa Napa Peninsula. These areas were rife for malaria but Skimmings appeared to have avoided the worst of it.
While in Moresby, the 53rd was mostly used for work parties. The battalion did not receive any major training until July, when B and C Companies were sent to the Kokoda area.
Poorly trained and ill-prepared, the 53rd went into battle against experienced Japanese troops. They did not fare well. In one ambush, the battalion commander and several other members of his headquarters staff were killed.
The 53rd Battalion was then merged with the 55th Battalion to form the 55/53rd Battalion.
By then Skimmings had been nicknamed “Skimmo” by the mates who shared a tent with him. His letters home mentioned the constant stress and danger posed by inhospitable conditions, mosquitoes, poor diet, monotonous days and nights, and the enemy. But they always ended with the stoic assertion that “things could be worse” and injunctions to “keep your chin up”.
In his last letter home, dated 3 December 1942, he wrote, “I thought I would drop you a line and let you know that I am still in the land of the living and feeling happy about everything.”
In early December 1942, the 55th/53rd was sent to the Sanananda Track to join the fighting in the drive to the Japanese beachheads at Buna and Gona.
On 7 December, the battalion dispatched a single company to launch a diversionary attack, while the rest of the battalion supported the 49th Battalion's attack at Sanananda. Coming up against strong defensive positions, the Australians were beaten back and the 55th/53rd suffered 130 casualties. Among the dead was Private Claude Skimmings.
He was 23 years old.
Today his remains lie in the Soputa War Cemetery beneath the inscription chosen by his grieving family: “May he rest in peace”.
Duncan Beard, Editor, Military History Section
