My father was passenger number 137, Valentinas Dagys, on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman that arrived in Fremantle, Australia, on 28 November 1947. He was called Vili by his Lithuanian friends and Bill by his Aussie family and friends. He left his parents and sister in Lithuania at the age of 17 and arrived in Australia aged 20.
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| An identity card dated 30 March 1943, when my father was 16, and valid until 30 September 1943: His father's name was Jonas, he was a student and he lived in Biržai at 6 Agluonos Street |
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| If you click once on this map, you can enlarge it in a separate window of your browser to read the details: each of the red circles shows places where my father stopped on his journey from Lithuania during the War, while each of the black ovals to the west shows placeswhere he stayed in Germany when the War was over The details of my father's flight come mostly from letters that were sent from Germany back home to family. A bundle of letters was hidden in a door frame of the family home and discovered when the new owners renovated around 2010. They gave the letters to the Biržai Regional Museum, Sela. I assume the letters were hidden because they came from Germany and this would not look good if seen by the occupying Russians. I learned of their existence when I wrote to a neighbouring address in 2015 after looking at the home through online maps. I noticed an old timer in the garden next door so decided to write to him. 
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| Source: Collection of Viltis Šalyte Kružas |
Scouting and Guiding groups were active among all three nationalities on the First Transport. They had been set up in the camps in Germany, they formed again on the ship to Australia and remained active in the Bonegilla camp.
Dad was listed as a Sea Scout on the USAT Stuart Heintzelman. In his home town of Biržai (northern Lithuania), he was part of the crew of the Biržiečių Sea Scouts' yacht "Diver" built in 1938 that reached the Baltic Sea.
Vili left the Bonegilla camp on 9 January 1948 for his mandatory two years' work. He was part of a group of at least 32 sent to the SA Department of Woods & Forests in Mount Gambier for employment as a labourer.
Here a clipping from the Lithuanian language weekly newspaper in Australia records those who were part of the first Lithuanian Scouts groups at Bonegilla fifty years previously.
Source: Tündern-Smith, Bonegilla's Beginnings
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| This photo is of the Sea Scout group on the ship to Australia; the grey line in the middle of the left-hand side points to my Dad |
Dad was listed as a Sea Scout on the USAT Stuart Heintzelman. In his home town of Biržai (northern Lithuania), he was part of the crew of the Biržiečių Sea Scouts' yacht "Diver" built in 1938 that reached the Baltic Sea.
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| Dad at the Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia, 1948 |
Vili left the Bonegilla camp on 9 January 1948 for his mandatory two years' work. He was part of a group of at least 32 sent to the SA Department of Woods & Forests in Mount Gambier for employment as a labourer.
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| Edward Kurauskas, the former representative player for Lithuania, had arrived in Australia on the Second Transport, the USAT General Stewart, on 13 February 1948. No doubt he was glad to find the cluster of at least 23 Lithuanians already in Mount Gambier at the Woods & Forests camp. |
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| Vili pretending to play the piano accordion; he could play the harmonica |
After moving to Adelaide, he was involved with the amateur Lithuanian theatre group that performed plays at the Lithuanian House, Norwood, during the 1950s and 60s.
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| My parents, Bill and Cynthia, on their wedding day in 1958, at Rosefield Methodist Church, Highgate, South Australia In Adelaide, Bill had various jobs, including manufacturing electric engines and selling land.
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