Faded lettering on part of the neglected Battle of the Coral Sea Memorial in Townsville not long after the major news story broke that the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington had been discovered 3000m below the surface . Not only are the Lexington inscriptions faded , Townsville, to the left of CORAL on the map , is almost completely obliterated .
The media gave the find extensive coverage , including the Townsville Bulletin, which ran an article that stated last year there had been a service in Cardwell, north of Townsville , at the "permanent memorial " to mark the 75th anniversary of the battle. No mention made of the fact there is a large, very detailed Battle of the Coral Sea memorial in Townsville.
When our S(h)ipping Reporter visited the Townsville memorial last week he found , above, faded lettering on the map outlining the massive 1942 naval engagement , leaves along the base. This was clearly another case for the joint battle group of Little Darwin and Admiral Harry Harris , he now the US Ambassador to Australia, to advance menacingly on Townsville civic and military authorities to rectify the situation.
Readers will recall that this blog invoked the name of Admiral Harris and together we were responsible for getting Townsville's Victory in the Pacific Memorial fountain and the rusting anchor off the USS Coral Sea cleaned up after years of local neglect . Admiral Harris is the son of a USS Lexington survivor and will no doubt want the memorial made shipshape . All the memorial lettering needs a touch up as the Japanese involvement is also faded in places .
