Lang, very interesting reading.
Your father was on Convoy US5A (but see below) in October 1940, which comprised two troop transports: Nieuw Zeeland and Johan De Witt. Escort was HMAS Perth as far as the general area of the Cocos Islands and HMAS Canberra from there to Columbo. RN ships provided the escort from there to final ports in Egypt. Nieuw Zeeland had a total AIF roster of 58 officers and 876 ORs aboard, plus a number of vehicles and spares, among other stores. The 876 figure included 18 'stragglers' who had missed their ships from the previous convoy! OC Troops was Lt Col A H Hellstrom.
RE 'US5A': sometimes called US5B in the literature, with the preceeding convoy listed as US5A. However, the original archival documentation refers only to US5 and US5A, hence my calling it US5A above.
Mike C
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29-07-12, 22:21
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