Sailors passing on the Sheean legacy
A VISIT from crew members of the HMAS Sheean to a NorthWest primary school on Friday held extra significance for staff and students.
Tasmanian war hero Teddy Sheean, after whom the submarine is named, is the great-great uncle of Sassafras Primary School students Isabella Sheean and her brother Andrew Jarvie.
School business manager Linda Robertson said the crew’s visit was valued by the school.
“The children thoroughly enjoyed having the personnel here and it is exciting for them to have the opportunity to ask questions and hear first-hand what life is like on a sub,’’ she said.
“It was pretty special because we’ve got the connection here at the school with two of our students being a descendant of Teddy Sheean.”
Sheean will be recognised on Anzac Day in his home town of Latrobe as the crew of the HMAS Sheean and HMAS Armidale march in the dawn and main parades.
Ordinary Seaman Sheean’s nephew Garry Ivory was wharf side on Thursday as the HMAS Sheean made its way down Devonport’s Mersey River.
Sheean was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross in December last year, after three decades of campaigning to recognise his heroic deeds during World War II with the military’s highest honour for valour.
The 18-year-old was last seen aboard HMAS Armidale in 1942 and was shooting at Japanese aircraft as the ship sank. He defied orders to abandon the ship off the coast of East Timor. Instead he strapped himself to the ship’s anti-aircraft gun and shot at enemy planes until he disappeared beneath the waves.
HMAS Sheean Commanding Officer Timothy Markusson said it was wonderful to be in the North-West and the crew was looking forward to marking Anzac Day in Latrobe and Port Sorell.
“Teddy’s Victoria Cross has really reinvigorated interest in the navy,” Commander Markusson said.