CAMP CABLE
NEAR LOGAN VILLAGE
SOUTH OF BRISBANE, QLD
DURING WW2

Previously known as Camp Tamborine or Camp Plunkett

 

In March 1942 the 32nd Infantry Division "The Red Arrows" sailed from San Francisco and arrived in Australia on 22 April 1942, and trained at Camp Adelaide, Australia. In July 1942 the 129th and the 120th Field Artillery units of the 32nd left Adelaide for a new camp initially called Camp Tamborine near Logan Village south of Brisbane. It may have also had the name Camp Plunkett named after Plunkett Railway Station which was located towards the south east corner of the camp.

Most of the personnel were sent overland by train but others were sent on 5 Liberty ships. Three days later at 5:30am on 22 July 1942, while 12 miles off Tathra, New South Wales, one of the Liberty ships, USAT William Dawes, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine I-11 during its journey from Adelaide to Brisbane. It was struck by two torpedoes and caught fire and eventually sunk at about 4:30pm. The only death of personnel from the 32nd Infantry Division was 25 year old Sergeant Gerald O. Cable, Service Company, 126th Infantry, from Michigan. Sergeant Cable had volunteered during the voyage to be an ammunition passer with the US Navy gun crew. Sergeant Gerald O. Cable and 4 other gun crew members were killed in the attack. When the 32nd moved into their new camp at Tamborine they called it Camp Cable after the late Gerald O. Cable.

 


Photo via Dave Cable

Sgt. Gerald O. Cable

 

The 155th Station Hospital (US) was located at Camp Cable

 

As many as 20,000 men were based at Camp Cable. The Camp was apparently evacuated during the Battle of the Coral Sea (4 - 8 May 1942).

The last elements of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment (later called the 503rd Regimental Combat Team) left Port Moresby on 25 January 1944 and arrived in Brisbane on 17 February 1944 and moved into camp at Camp Cable. Whilst at Camp Cable the 503rd carried out a practice parachute jump on a Brisbane Golf Course, after taking off from the Brisbane airport. The 503rd Regimental Combat Team left Camp Cable for Oro Bay, New Guinea on 5 April 1944 on board U.S. Army Transport "Sea Cat" which departed Brisbane at 0815 hours on 6 April 1944.

 

Camp Cable

 

After the war, a Main Roads Department engineer, Mr. F.S. Parkes, suggested that a Cairn of Remembrance be erected to remember the Americans that served at Camp Cable. There are no longer any visible signs of Camp Cable except for this shrine which was erected near the original main entrance to the camp. The plaque reads:-

 

U.S.A.
CAMP CABLE
THEY PASSED THIS WAY
1942 - 1944

 

There are two other memorials near the original entrance to the camp.  One is dedicated to Robert Dannenberg, who trained at Camp Cable and later lost his life in December 1942 in New Guinea.

Another small stone was erected to remember a mascot dog from Mississippi City called Vicksburg. The dog was killed in a road accident at Southport in 1942.

 

cc02.jpg (44458 bytes)

Three Memorial Stones near the original entrance to Camp Cable

 

In memory of
Robt. Dannenberg
KIA Dec 26, 42
1918 - 1942

 

U.S.A.
CAMP CABLE
THEY PASSED THIS WAY
1942-1944

 

In loving Memory
of Vicksburg
(Mascot)
'A' Battery 120 F.A. 32 Division
U.S.A.
Born Vicksburg, Mississipi
Aug. 1940
Killed Southport, QLD
8th Oct. 1944

 

Bill Danenberg, the nephew of Robert Danenberg (correct spelling is with one 'n'), advised that Sergeant Robert Danenberg was born in 1918 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA to Frank and Virginia (Godfrey) Danenberg. One of three children, sister Jean, and brother, James (Bill's father). He served with Battery 'C', 120 FA, 32nd Division. He received a silver star posthumously for retrieving a wounded soldier and was struck by an enemy sniper, on Christmas Day. The Memorial Stone was paid for by his buddies of Battery C in 1942. It was uncovered by a survey crew in 1950 and moved to its present location. It has been a life-long dream of Bill Danenberg to see the marker and he is hoping to visit the site in 2003. 

 

UNITS BASED AT CAMP CABLE

US ARMY

1st Marine Division (US) 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment
later the 503rd Regimental Combat Team
  

32ND INFANTRY DIVISION, "RED ARROWS"

  • Headquarters 32d Infantry Division, 

  • Headquarters Company - 32d Infantry Division,

  • 126th Infantry Regiment, 

  • 127th Infantry Regiment, 

  • 128th Infantry Regiment, 

  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery - 32d Division Artillery

  • 121st Field Artillery Battalion,

  • 126th Field Artillery Battalion,

  • 120th Field Artillery Battalion "The Red Fox Battalion" 

  • 129th Field Artillery, 

  • Battery A - 129th Field Artillery Battalion, 

  • 107th Quartermaster Battalion, 

  • 114th Combat Engineer Battalion, 

  • 107th Medical Battalion - less Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 

  • 32d Signal Company, 

  • 32d Military Police Platoon, 

  • 32d Reconnaissance Troop, 

  • 732nd Ordinance (LM) Company, 

  • 32d Quartermaster Company, 

  • 632d Tank Destroyer Battalion 

 

AUSTRALIAN ARMY

5 Army Recruitment Depot (5 ARD) 22nd Australian Camp Hospital  

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Greg Howe for his assistance with this home page. I'd like to thank Dave Cable, the nephew of Sgt. Gerald O. Cable, for his assistance with this web page.

 

REFERENCE

1st Battalion 120th Field Artillery Heritage
"The Red Fox Battalion"

"32nd Division's Official History: 32nd Division, World War II"

Bev Gill from the Logan Village Historical Society has apparently compiled some history on Camp Cable.

 

Can anyone help me with more information?

 

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

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©  Peter Dunn OAM 2020

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This page first produced 7 August 2000

This page last updated 04 February 2022