Nothin’ leaves here with tags! OK? Nothin’! SIR, YES SIR. (#12)

By Alan Hamill

What happened on Somerton Beach and in Adelaide from 1902 to 1966+?

Why was the Somerton Man in Adelaide?

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To backtrack and brush up on what this case is about, go to Wikipedia here 

Imposters

Say Hello to General – Admiral – Gunnery Sergeant – Sentry Officer X.

OR

Could I have a half price Macca’s Big Lunch Meal please?

Ahh, I see you served in the deserts of Hookturnistan! *

Yep, bit of a busy time, but we made it!

Get lost you imposter!

*product of Sammy J on ABC Breakfast, Melbourne.

So, what do you do to try to stop civilians using military uniforms or clothing?

You introduce a law prohibiting civilians, or anyone not entitled, from wearing all (or any part) of any uniform of any of the services of The United States of America, including decorations or insignias of any unit!

But there’s a problem. The Performing Arts are then prohibited from having access to any uniforms for making films, live theatre or many other appearances, so you need to amend the law a little. And they do!

Nothin’ leaves here with tags! OK? Nothin’. Sir, Yes Sir!

You need to remove identifying labels from all clothing before they leave the US.

Enter the United Service Organisations (USO)

Performers from many countries would join up in groups, or troupes if you like, to put on performances for the combined Armies, Navies, Air Forces and other groups in the actual field of battle to provide a sense of home or diversion from the noises of battle. Big name performers such as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Ann Margaret and many more travelled to war zones to entertain.

Now to Australia:-

Meet Sebastian John Ross. He went by the name of John Ross in civilian life or for official duties was S John Ross. His popular nickname was “Scissors John”.

(S) John Ross was a world renowned silhouette artist before World War 2. He was born in the US in 1919 and he continued this till his passing in Australia in 2008. He also performed on the stage as a comedian and actor.

John Ross was a US Army Staff Sergeant in the Transport and Logistics Section and was based in The Grace Building in Sydney during the war. The same building as part of the Australian Signals section. His duties involved arranging carriage of items and personnel on the Australian East Coast. He also had the task of handling all the requests of any visiting USO personnel, high profile performers or military. He continued with his silhouette hobby whenever the opportunity arose.

S John Ross’s Kit. Does it ring any bells? Look vaguely familiar? Like the one below perhaps?

And then there’s Elmer Sylvester Klein!

Elmer Sylvester Klein was also a US Army Staff Sergeant (same rank as John Ross) and was based at the Australian Infantry Depot at Wacol in Queensland, just outside Brisbane.

And like Ross he also had USO duties as the task required it. His normal duties included stores from the Australian Army Store Division out of Wacol.

His family in the US were very engaged in supporting the USO by fund raising and visitations when possible.

During his term at Wacol, Klein reported to Brisbane Police he had had a watch stolen from him while inside the Wacol site. The unusual point I want to make here is that when describing his watch to police he could quote the watch’s 8 digit serial number even though he had owned this watch for possibly 12 years. Could his watch match in some way the watch that was lost from the Thomson household in Adelaide?

Elmer Klein married Elsie May Liebke from Windsor during his term at Wacol although the timing may have been a little inconvenient for his 2 US wives.

Elsie Liebke’s brother Clarence R Liebke died in the Caulfield Military Hospital in 1940 after an explosion in the boiler house at RAAF Laverton in Victoria. Clarence was on the end of a significant denial of guilt by the RAAF, as their cleaning regime was to wait till all the boilers seemed cool then bathe and scrub the oily floor with petrol.

Just letters? Nope! They’re a message! (#4) nominates Mr Elmer S as the recipient of the “Code” message!

And then there’s Thomas Lawrence Keane who, although carrying an old service injury, was posted to Wacol as a storeman for WW2. He had suffered face and leg gun shot wounds in the First World War. Although he was shorter than the 5’11” of the body laid out in Adelaide he did have brown hair greying at the sides and grey eyes.

Thomas Keane spent most of his life working with horses and his trade was as a horse breaker.

His role at Wacol would have been to store the “Buy Back” .303’s that were coming back by Government schemes for re-issue at a later date (or perhaps marshalled to go to the Israel War).

The compelling issue with Thomas Lawrence Keane was his letter “T” and the “K” in his signature. They are a match exactly to the writing on the tie in the Adelaide activities as shown below. With the “K” it has been discussed how unusual it is for the 45 degree upwards and downwards strokes to be done in individual strokes (downward first then upwards coming from part the way up the downwards stroke).