Australians go to War on Harley WLA's

Even before the US entered WWII, we had already begun to supply our Allies with equipment and supplies to help with the war effort.  Through the Lend-Lease program, over 30,000 Harley-Davidson WLA's were shipped around the world for use by Allied Nations including the Soviet Union, China, France and Britain.  During this time period, Australia was still part of the British Empire, so an unknown number of WLA's were also shipped "down under" for use by Australian troops.

The Australians used the WLA's, just like the Americans, as dispatch vehicles and were commended for their efforts in the Middle Eastern Campaigns.

In theory, once WWII ended, the Allied Nations were supposed to return the equipment which was lent to them by the US.  This part of the Lend-Lease program was never enforced, so many countries either surplused the equipment or kept it for future use.  This is probably where those stories originated telling of 100's of WLA's buried in some European field or piled in heaps at old military bases.

Of course, plenty of WLA's were kept by the Allied Nations to use in future conflicts and Australia did just that.  When the Korean War started in 1950, Australia sent dispatch riders astride their WWII era WLA's to the front.

The above photo shows Private Jack Clark, a dispatch rider with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment sitting on a WLA somewhere in Korea.

Another dispatch rider from the 3rd Battalion is shown making adjustments on his WLA, while parked in front of a Korean home.

Shown above is Private Bob Parker, also from the 3rd Regiment.  Parker was the dispatch rider for the battalion's commanding officer and was an experienced motorcycle rider from his days of doing offroad scrambles before the war.

During the Battle of Kapyong, Parker was shot in the hip while riding alone on his WLA.  He lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a ditch. As he lay there, US and Australians troops unknowingly left him behind.

After crawling to a peasants hut, Parker was able to pick off some of the advancing Chinese troops, but eventually was forced to surrender.  He was captured and spent the next two years as a POW under extremely harsh conditions.  Parker finally was released in August of 1953 and returned home to Australia.