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Letters
Mission "Iron Gate" See also "Robert "Zack" Lardner, the IRON GATE mission, (or the Danube Mission)" G'day Mac, Well, I had a little bit of success at finding the said Joseph Dix. Well, not him exactly, but his family. He unfortunately died about 20 years ago. I got onto the right family by ringing almost every Dix in SA. Eventually I found his niece, and she gave me Josephs wife's address and phone number in Coolaroo in Melbourne. I rang there, and the wife ( Muriel) wasn't there, but I spoke for quite a while to Muriel's sister. As it turns out, the sister knew a fair bit about the mission. As soon as I explained who I was and what the phone call was about, she said "they went to the Black Sea". They all went as civilians and they went on a German boat apparently. She said that when Joseph was alive, he tried to get more information from the 'Admiralty" (her words), but nobody knew anything about it. She also said that there was a guy from the Stuart in the mission as well, but when I asked his name, she couldn't remember, but, had it written down somewhere. However, he was quite sick when Joseph last saw him and he also has passed away too. I said that I would forward onto her a copy of the newspaper article that I sent you, and I will also ask her to write down as much as she knows about the mission and Josephs background. I also said that the latter part was not too important, but there might be a clue or two there somewhere. Thought you might like to know how I got on, and it seems that I might not spend the rest of my nights on the telephone looking through the White Pages. regards
Iron Gate Dam, where Mission Iron Gate was planning to visit to blow up the Lock Gates. A number of members from the RAN destroyers HMAS Vampire, and HMAS Stuart were involved around 1941. I believe the plan wasaborted as details had leaked out, and the Germans learned of the intended raid on the lock gates Dave, As I always believe, sheer persistence pays off in the end. Well done, could I please bother you to send me again the press cutting from the Adelaide paper about AB Dix, I have lost it some how. We ought to record this story on AHOY, a bit of unusual RAN history, unlikely to be known or written down else where. Thanks again for sharing it all with me. Regards,
TK, Dave Beharrie, had an Uncle by the same surname who served in both Vampire and Stuart, two old V and W RAN destroyers who both served in the Mediterranean in WW2 in the Scrap Iron Flotilla. His Uncle left Vampire in Singapore in 1942, joined the RAAF as a Pilot to be shot down and killed over Europe later in the war. But whilst in the Med, he was a volunteer for an adventure dubbed " Mission Iron Gate" which involved an attempt to blow up dock gates at the IRON GATE on the Danube in about 1941. There was a Newspaper report printed in an Adelaide paper about Able Seaman J M Dix reporting on that mission, and Dave sent me the cutting which I have lost but have asked Dave to send again. His Dad told him, his deceased Uncle was also on that mission. By tracking down all those with the name of DIX, in the Australian White pages of our phone books, Dave seems to have found the family that Joseph belonged to, and talked to Joseph's wife's sister Muriel, who confirms this quite bizarre story. More to come in due course.
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