Battle-weary and in poor health following the grueling Guadalcanal campaign, the men of the 1st Marine Division, United States Marine Corps were shipped to Melbourne in January 1943 for nine months recuperation leave. Greeted with warm hospitality, these 15,000 young American men found a ‘home away from home’.
Visions soaks up the stories and experiences portrayed in the exhibition ‘Over-Paid, Over-Sexed and Over Here?: US Marines in Wartime Melbourne 1943.’
The exhibition is running until 30 April in the City Gallery at the Melbourne Town Hall.
See the catalogue of the exhibition on the University of Melbourne’s
School of Historical Studies website at:
http://www.history.unimelb.edu.au/overhere/memories-wartime-melbourne.html
Check out the City of Melbourne 'City Gallery': http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Placestogo/Galleries/Public/Pages/4919.aspx