Back at home we had new problems — bombs, gun-happy American MPs and brawling troops. 

FROM the time the Japanese entered World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the war was virtually on Queensland's doorstep.

Most of the Japanese bombing attacks in 1942 were concentrated on Darwin, but Queensland's targets within range of Rabaul also come under attack. Horn Island, in the Torres Strait, was targeted for its airstrip in 1942 and 1943. Mossman in far north Queensland was raided in June 1942.

Townsville was bombed in July 1942 but it was better protected by Australian and US fighters and harder for the Japanese to target, although air raid sirens were common and a strict blackout was enforced.

The Townsville raids, by Emily flying boats based at Rabaul, were used for propaganda. Radio Tokyo reported on August 1 and 2, 1942: "All important military installations at Townsville smashed in three raids by the Japanese naval air units . . . This attack on Townsville was one of the heaviest since the fall of Singapore."

Radio Berlin was even more boastful: On August 26, it reported: "In Townsville, which is still burning, the Brisbane railway line was again bombed and made unusable over long stretches."

A child stands in a bomb crater at Townsville in August 1942. Japanese planes bombed the city three nights in one week.

There were other problems. Queensland, with its huge influx of Australian and American troops, not to mention British sailors, Dutch aviators and assorted other allies passing through on their way to the war, was virtually a state of occupation.

For the Americans, Queensland provided the logistical "firm base" for their campaigns north.

Initially the Americans were welcomed as saviours but they were better dressed, better paid and had —  we might as well be honest —  better manners than their Australian counterparts. Local girls certainly thought so.

For the battle-hardened troops of the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions the idea of these untested American conscripts as saviours was ludicrous and insulting. Fights were common.

Easily the most serious was the so-called Battle of Brisbane, two brawls involving up to 5000 people on the nights of November 26 and 27, 1942.

On the first night, American MPs moved in with shotguns and three shots were fired. One hit Australian Middle East veteran Pte Edward Webster in the chest, killing him instantly.

The next night, brawling began on the intersection of Queen and Edward streets, near the old AMP building where Gen Douglas MacArthur had his headquarters. Again the Americans responded with a show of force not usual in Australia.

An air raid shelter in Elizabeth St, Brisbane.

MPs with drawn pistols lined the streets until an Australian officer, with more sense, persuaded them to leave. War correspondent Damien Parer had no doubt of the initial cause: "Those American MPs, those bloody bastards, they always hit first and asked questions afterward."

On the night of January 19, 1943, Australian Able Seaman David Wren was shot dead by American MP Fountain Williams in George Street. The records show Wren's death as the result of misadventure but Williams was court martialled and jailed.

Earlier, in a South Townsville fish and chip shop on August 28, 1942, a stoker from HMAS Swan, George Hargrave, was shot in the stomach by American MP Ernest Helton after an argument over a salt shaker.

Hargrave died on September 9. Helton was court martialled but acquitted after the shooting was deemed as self defence.

In another incident, the brutish rape of a Red Cross worker scandalised the Townsville population.

The sexual needs of so many lonely young men created another problem. Church leaders declared a deterioration of public morality, with couples finding their pleasures where they could take them, whether in public parks or private doorways.

Brothels operated freely in Brisbane, around the area where Festival Hall is today. Some have drawn a link from the toleration of Brisbane's brothels during the war years to the events which led to the Fitzgerald inquiry of the late 1980s.