Fleet Post Office Townsville

FLEET POST OFFICE TOWNSVILLE
SERVICE FORCE, SOUTHWEST PACIFIC FORCE,
US NAVY IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

The Commander Service Force, Southwest Pacific Force reported on 15 February 1943 that Fleet Post Offices were established at Townsville and Cairns, Queensland. The Fleet Post Office in Townsville was part of the US Navy Base Section in Townsville, which was known as Navy 143. He also reported that a Class III Post Office was established at Mackay to serve Amphibious forces located there.

The book "Building the Navy's Bases in World War II: History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps, 1940-1946" states the following in Chapter XXVI "Bases in the Southwest Pacific":-

Townsville. -- At Townsville, on the northeast coast of Australia, a section base was set up to service convoy and combatant ships operating in the forward areas of the Solomons and New Guinea.

Land was acquired rent-free, from the Townsville Town Council, for the site of a fleet post office, and a frame building, occupied in the middle of April, was built entirely by Australian labor for this activity.

Ralph Mason's father, Rayford Nathineal Mason (Service No. 272 24 96), Shipfitter 2nd Class, was stationed in Townsville with the US Navy Fleet Post Office during WWII.

Photo:- via Ralph Mason