A War Veteran’s Final Interview
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A Concluding Interview with an Australian Wartime Veteran – Moss Berryman
As the last surviving raid member of WWII’s Operation Jaywick, Moss Berryman has a story to tell, and we have a duty to listen. Moss was just 19 years old when he and 13 other men from the Allied Forces Z Special Unit undertook one of Australia’s most daring and successful wartime missions.
They spent four months at sea aboard the Krait, a reclaimed Japanese shipping vessel, and travelled from Exmouth, Western Australia to Singapore Harbour with no promise of a return. The members of Operation Jaywick dyed their skin and hair and wore sarongs to better disguise themselves as the local fisherman. Eight of the crew paddled 50km in folding canoes deep into enemy territory, attached limpet mines to seven Japanese shipping vessels and successfully sunk or destroyed each one. Every member of Operation Jaywick made it back alive and hold the record for the longest amount of time spent undetected in enemy territory. Unfortunately, a repeat mission later in the war didn’t have the same success and some of the Z Special soldiers from the first mission were captured and killed.
The Australian Defence Force offered the team sixpence per day in danger money for the mission; 75 years later, they still haven’t been paid.

This piece of Australian history was hidden behind a top-secret veil for decades, and right now, for the last time, we have the opportunity to be taken on a journey through Moss Berryman’s firsthand account as a member of the Z Special Unit in the Second World War.

We request your generosity in this GoFundMe campaign to support the production of a short film honouring the legacy of our wartime heroes who participated in Operation Jaywick and the bravery Moss Berryman and his fellow raid members showed on their courageous four-month mission.

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The Adventure Group is going to re-enact this epic feat of Special Operations, focusing on the canoe approach to Singapore Harbour.
We do this to honour and commemorate the men that carried out this raid, for they are the forebears of today’s Special Forces community from which we draw our DNA. We do this also to raise funds to support Australia’s veteran community. This is a fundraising mission.
Read more about the reenactment here
___________________________________________________________________
As the last surviving raid member of WWII’s Operation Jaywick, Moss Berryman has a story to tell, and we have a duty to listen. Moss was just 19 years old when he and 13 other men from the Allied Forces Z Special Unit undertook one of Australia’s most daring and successful wartime missions.
They spent four months at sea aboard the Krait, a reclaimed Japanese shipping vessel, and travelled from Exmouth, Western Australia to Singapore Harbour with no promise of a return. The members of Operation Jaywick dyed their skin and hair and wore sarongs to better disguise themselves as the local fisherman. Eight of the crew paddled 50km in folding canoes deep into enemy territory, attached limpet mines to seven Japanese shipping vessels and successfully sunk or destroyed each one. Every member of Operation Jaywick made it back alive and hold the record for the longest amount of time spent undetected in enemy territory. Unfortunately, a repeat mission later in the war didn’t have the same success and some of the Z Special soldiers from the first mission were captured and killed.
The Australian Defence Force offered the team sixpence per day in danger money for the mission; 75 years later, they still haven’t been paid.
This piece of Australian history was hidden behind a top-secret veil for decades, and right now, for the last time, we have the opportunity to be taken on a journey through Moss Berryman’s firsthand account as a member of the Z Special Unit in the Second World War.
We request your generosity in this GoFundMe campaign to support the production of a short film honouring the legacy of our wartime heroes who participated in Operation Jaywick and the bravery Moss Berryman and his fellow raid members showed on their courageous four-month mission.
___________________________________________________________________
The Adventure Group is going to re-enact this epic feat of Special Operations, focusing on the canoe approach to Singapore Harbour.
We do this to honour and commemorate the men that carried out this raid, for they are the forebears of today’s Special Forces community from which we draw our DNA. We do this also to raise funds to support Australia’s veteran community. This is a fundraising mission.
Read more about the reenactment here
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Organizer
Shawn Peach
Organizer
Haymarket NSW
