Topped by a sprig of wattle, this gravestone in the Alice Springs cemetery is the last resting place of Sam Kruger who in his extraordinary life is said to have played a vital part in what became Operation Vengeance- the shooting down of the bomber in which Admiral Yamamoto ,who conceived the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, was travelling in l943.
It simply states : Samuel Kruger . Born 1.1.1912. Died 11.8.2000.
The wattle was placed there by Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith who was closely associated with Kruger in the Northern Territory . Although Wesley-Smith has gathered much information about Kruger, there is much more that remains a mystery . Some of his research and photographs have been run in this blog in the past .
Briefly , the intriguing Kruger saga is thus. Brought to Australia by his Russian Jewish family, Sam became a radio engineer ; with the outbreak of WWll , he offered his services to Australia , but was rejected because he wore glasses . The Americans took him on and he went to Guadalcanal where he sensed that an intercepted Japanese radio message was highly important .
He told Wesley-Smith it related to the movement of Admiral Yamato and he had to take strong action to impress higher authorities before its importance was realised and Operation Vengeance launched. Kruger also told him he "ran " a CIA radio base in American Samoa after the war and was involved in military action with Israeli leader Moshe Dayan .
In Darwin , Kruger , who wore thick lens glasses and carried a large briefcase, was employed in Water Resources . He became involved with Wesley-Smith and Jose Ramos Horta in the East Timor struggle .
Horta, right, is shown shaking hands in Kruger's Darwin flat in 1999 .There is another photograph inscribed by Horta appointing Kruger as a major in the East Timor Liberation Army. Soon after the above snap was taken , Kruger , in ill health, moved to Alice Springs . Why Alice , of all places , is not known . He had lived in Portuguese East Timor before the Indonesian invasion .
In Alice Springs , Kruger associated with a Darwin couple, Willie and Pat Beattie , who had moved down there . In l986 , Wesley-Smith , attending the Adelaide performance before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh of the musical fantasy Boojum! , inspired by the life and writings of Lewis Carroll , composed by younger brother ,Martin Wesley-Smith, was surprised to see the Alice Springs couple sitting behind him in the audience .
In no way does he doubt any claims made by Kruger, especially in connection with Operation Vengeance . Conflicting American accounts of the shooting down of Admiral Yamamoto , described as the most hated man in the USA, do not mention him .
Robert Wesley-Smith , 77, foundation member of the Northern Territory Civil Liberties , flat out writing his own autobiography, involved in numerous other matters , about to have stitches taken out of his foot after a frozen duck attack , would like to delve further into Kruger's background, especially his involvement with the Americans during the war and in Israel . However, he would not mind if some media organisation followed up the amazing Kruger story. He is prepared , under certain circumstances, to make his Kruger file available .
