Remembering the May 21, 1945 Kapooka Tragedy

The Daily Advertiser

On May 21, 1945, a training accident at Kapooka left 26 young soldiers dead when a massive explosion destroyed the dugout they were in. It was the biggest training disaster in Australia’s military history.

Transcript

00:00On Monday, May 21, 1945, Grenade Training at what was then known as the Kapuka Engineering

00:12Training Camp went horribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of 26 young soldiers. Two days

00:20later, what is believed to have been the largest military funeral ever to take place in Australia

00:26was held in Wagga. The Daily Advertiser report on the funeral said

00:32Yesterday, thousands of people witnessed the sad spectacle of a mass funeral of the 26 young men

00:40who so tragically lost their lives at Kapuka RAA school on Monday last. The military funeral left

00:48Wagga shortly after two o'clock in the afternoon and entered Wagga by the Sturt Highway with a

00:54large tender leading decked out with beautiful blooms. The flowers were a symbol of affectionate

01:01sympathy towards a young band of Australian soldiers who gave their lives for their country

01:07and their stricken relatives. The approach of a funeral was signalled by motorcyclists

01:13and as it came into view at the western end of Edward Street, the waiting crowds formed

01:19in lines on each side of a highway and came to respectful attention.

01:26The crowd was hushed as the first tender bearing six coffins came through the lines, followed

01:32by three others carrying the other twenty bodies of the dead soldiers.

01:37Following was a long line of cars, the leading ones of which contained bereaved relatives, and

01:43many of those in the streets found their eyes dimmed with tears as their sympathy went out to

01:50the distressed relatives who had so sadly and abruptly been deprived of loved ones.

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