BY DONALD HOOK

 
TWO SPECIAL GUESTS at the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society luncheon in Canberra last week were World War II Japanese prisoner of war, Lorna Johnston, and the president of the Lark Force Association, Norm Furness.

Lorna, aged 96, travelled from her home in Auckland to attend the weekend of activities marking the 69th anniversary of the sinking of the Japanese prison ship Montevideo Maru by the American submarine Sturgeon on 1 July 1942.

All 1,053 Australian prisoners died in what remains as Australia's worst maritime tragedy.

More than 150 people attended the luncheon as well as a chapel service at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, on Sunday.