837TH SIGNAL SERVICE DETACHMENT
LATER SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE SIS
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

On 16 April 1942, six Officers and eight Enlisted Men of the 837th Signal Service Detachment left the USA mainland on the last scheduled Clipper flight to Hawaii. As all regular commercial flights to Auckland, New Zealand had been curtailed, they made the next 7,000 mile trip to Sydney as space became available on USAAF or RAAF aircraft. They proceeded to Melbourne and were attached to General Douglas MacArthur's GHQ. They became part of Central Bureau which operated from an old home called "Cranleigh" in Domain Road, at South Yarra.

Within the next two months an additional 12 Enlisted Men and 3 Officers including Major Abe Sinkov joined the unit. Major Sinkov then took over as the Commanding Officer of the 837th Signal Service Detachment.

The 837th relocated to Brisbane in September 1942. The 837th was deactivated in May 1943, and was replaced by the Special Intelligence Service (SIS), under US and Australian officers commanded by Colonel Harold Doud with Captain Chester W. Ray as Commander of Troops. Colonel A. Sinkov took over later that year as the Commanding Officer

Their headquarters and some accommodation were at 21 Henry St, Ascot, but as the unit outgrew 21 Henry Street, a number of personnel were quartered at Luna Park. The US troops were not impressed, and described their quarters as “a magnificent, jerry-built, unsuccessful Coney Island." Other SIS personnel were quartered at Camp Yeronga on the south side of Brisbane.

On 25 July 1944 SIS moved their quarters from Camp Yeronga to Camp Ascot. The men were not happy with the move. The hardest part of it to bear was the sudden loss of that comforting financial institution - per diem. In the new mess hall, with all its culinary handicaps, men would look down into their mess kits, shake their heads, "And this costs me ninety cents."

There was also tons of mud, shaky tents that filtered in the rain, and a general lack of those facilities a gentleman soldier expects. As an added inconvenience, the enlisted men's club was now further away than it had been at Yeronga.

The one advantage of their new camp was that they could sleep in a bit later. No more 8-mile rides on an open tram on a winters morning. Their Company Commander at that time was Captain Wolfe.

To avoid camp conditions at Camp Ascot, eight SIS men rented a house at 45 Eldernell Street, Hamilton and furnished it with G.I. cots, a dining room suite and a housekeeper. When conditions became crowded at “Nyrambla”, the RAAF women from the Womens' Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) were billeted nearby at a house at 26 Henry Street. After SIS left for Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea in late 1944, the Eldernell Street house was leased by RAAF No.3 Base Supply Depot members.

Company Commander Captain Wolfe organised their first baseball team in October 1944. It was later reorganised into a softball team called the Night Owls and played in the Brisbane league games. Mess Officer Black organised his own team know as the Black Hawks to play against the Night Owls. Sy Muschell won the SIS golf match and Sid Parris won the tennis tournament. Once courts were made available, Basketball matches between Officers and Enlisted Men were very popular.

In April 1945 eight men bought an old horse called Fortune for fifty guineas. He raced four times in his colours of white, red sash with blue cap. He never won and the men sold him before they left Australia.

NOTE:- Text shown above in Italics are quotes from the book titled "Special Intelligence Service in the Far East 1942 - 1946"

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