Husband of Mae

After arriving in Sydney on board the HMS Achilles Mr Hutton then boarded the 'Strathmore' in Melbourne to Ceylon. He then took the train through India where he joined HMS Leander in Bombay India.

Mr Hutton notes that he turned down a Good Conduct Medal after the Kula Gulf conflict. He had been "down below" for 12 1/2 hours, with no food or drink and when approached was in a state of shock. He now wishes he had been given the opportunity to think about it.

Mr Hutton was involved in a number of different battles. These include the capture of the Charles L.D. (Vinchy-French) in the Indian Ocean and the sinking of Ramb I (Italian), also in the Indian Ocean.

In the Solomon Islands Mr Hutton was part of the Battle of Kula Gulf. In this battle the Leander was part of a task force, consisting of the USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis and some destroyers, against the Tokyo Express. Leander was hit by a long lance torpedo resulting in a hole 600 sq. feet. They were hit in the boiler room in which Mr Hutton was meant to be but had been moved just prior to the action in order to train a new stoker. As a result they lost all power and steam. After a struggle they finally limped into Tulgai assisted by USS Radford. A concrete barrier was placed around the damaged section (the stokers mess deck). They finally arrived in Auckland, via Santos, and went into dry dock.

Cenotaph record initially prepared with the serviceman in 1999 AWMM