Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A fortnight ago I had the special privilege of meeting Don Cantello of the USA at Hammondville, on the site where Don's father, Lieutenant George Cantello, commander of the 41st Pursuit Squadron of the US Army Air Force, died 75 years ago.

It was early June 1942, one week after the Japanese midget submarine raid on Sydney Harbour, and the Imperial Japanese Navy still had a number of submarines submerged off our coast. Just after midnight on 8 June 1942, one of those subs surfaced offshore of Maroubra Beach and rapidly fired 10 rounds of 140-millimetre shells from its main deck. With air raid sirens wailing and searchlights sweeping the Sydney sky, the call went out to the 41st Pursuit Squadron at Bankstown airfield to defend our city. Just before 1 am, a solitary P-39 Airacobra piloted by Lieutenant Cantello took off alone into the night sky to protect our city of Sydney. But tragically, shortly after its take-off, the plane stalled, crashing into a park, killing Lieutenant Cantello the day before his son Don's first birthday.

That spot today is a memorial park dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Cantello. Last week, with the Australian and American flags flying high, being on the site where Don's father, whom he had never met, whose plane had crashed while defending my city of Sydney, was a very special occasion.