This article is from page 17 of the 2012-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
THE exploits of the “fighting priest”, Ballyvaughan’s Father Cornelius Sexton, have been revealed for the first time in a new book soon to be released.
Father Cornelius, or “Con”, joined the Australian army in 1940 and spent five years in combat areas in Malaya and Singapore.
During that time he suffered many injuries, was wounded in a Japanese shelling and was also captured and served time as a prisoner of war.
His story is now told for the first time in a new book, Hard Times, Decent Men by Neil Richards, which has just been published.
According to Richards, one of Father Sexton’s most dangerous nights came on February 8, 1942, when he was witness to a major Japanese offensive which forced a general retreat by Australian forces on Malaya.
During the ill-fated retreat, the truck that Fr Sexton was travelling in was hit with a Japanese shell.
“We had several wounded brought in during the night from the shelling and the colonel of our battalion sent up men to try and stop the enemy landing.
“It should never have been ordered, it was a massacre” he said in interview after the war.
“They didn’t stand a chance. The first two who were brought in were Chinese who were fighting with our forces.
“The doctor said to bring them down to the hospital so we loaded them on the back of the truck.
“The truck was struck with a mortar and myself and Jack [Australian soldier Jack Bowman] were blown out of the truck.
“I remember Jack said to me ‘are you alive, Father?’. And I said. ‘I am, are you?’”
Later that year, Fr Sexton was on a Red Cross truck bringing wounded men to the Selarang Barracks in Singapore which was fired on by Japanese soldiers.
Fr Sexton managed to make it through to the barracks only to become a prisoner of war when Aus- tralia surrendered the island on February 5, 1942.
During his three years as a prisoner of war, Fr Sexton continued in his ministries and delivered sacrament to both allied and Japanese soldiers.
He was eventually released in August of 1945 and was diagnosed with neurotic beriberi, a condition of the nervous system brought about by a lack of vitamins.
After the war, Father Sexton returned to Australia where he served as a parish priest until he retired in January of 1978.