WILL HONOUR DEAD CAPTAIN'S GALLANTRY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 198, 22 August 1942, Page 5

WILL HONOUR DEAD CAPTAIN'S GALLANTRY

CANBERRA'S FIGHT

One Of War's Most Heroic

Personal Episodes United Press Association—Copyright Special Australian Correspondent Rec. noon. SYDNEY, this day. Official recognition of the gallantry of Captain F. E. Getting, captain of the cruiser Canberra, who died in the Solomon Islands action, will be made by the Federal Government. Indicating this, the Prime Minister, Mr. Cur tin, said that he had been deeply stirred by the story of Captain Getting 3 s heroism in remaining at his post although mortally wounded, struck by a shell fragment from the first enemy broadside which hit the Canberra's bridge.

Captain Getting sat on a stool and directed the final operations as the cruiser was abandoned. He refused medical air, insisting that wounded ratings be attended first. Survivors of the action unanimously pay high tribute to the dead captain's heroism. They said that he protested even as the men carried him below.

The full story of Captain Getting's bravery and devotion to duty has not yet been released. "One of the most heroic personal episodes of this war is the story of the last fight of Captain Getting, of the Canberra," says the Daily Telegraph in a leading article. "For courage and fortitude it equals any episode in naval history. This is the kind of story that should be trumpeted to the world. Violent death is never pretty, but this kind of fortitude of will, self-denial and gallantry which Captain Getting showed, transcends the ugliness of the modern mechanical battle."

The paper says that the release of the story would be a great help to national "morale and would offer no comfort to the enemy, who would not be very confident if he knew that there was a Getting on every British ship.