A man of few words, he was cautious and calm under pressure. Flying from Port Moresby with some of his staff in an American transport aircraft, he arrived at Milne Bay on 13 August after a hazardous flight with an inexperienced pilot who had got lost and with his fuel nearly exhausted. More than 35 kilometers long and over 15 kilometers wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbour, surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to the north and south, and on the northern shore, a narrow coastal strip, soggy with sago and mangrove swamps.
The area was well known for its torrential rain, frequent flooding and malaria. The first Australian soldiers and American engineers arrived in Milne Bay in June to begin work on constructing airstrips, roads and wharves. The area soon became a large base with three airstrips, although conditions remained basic and less than pleasant.
One soldier later wrote:. Flight Lieutenant Nat Gould, a pilot with No. The low cloud cover and nearby high mountains made flying dangerous, while the frequent rain storms turned the roads into quagmires which bogged vehicles.
A professional officer, the pipe-smoking, year-old Clowes spent his working life in the service of Australia and the Empire. He and his younger brother Norman were among the first class of cadets to enter the Royal Military College, Duntroon in He went ashore at Anzac in the morning on 25 April , and served as an artillery observation officer directing naval gunfire during the Gallipoli campaign.
Clowes remained in the army during the interwar period, holding various staff, training and command positions, while his brother Norman, meanwhile, transferred to the British army after the war where he a long and distinguished career. His ability to get a clear grasp of a situation and act accordingly was demonstrated during a crucial moment in the disastrous Greek campaign in April The Australian commander, General Sir Thomas Blamey, sent Clowes to Pinios or Tempe Gorge in northern Greece, where the rapidly advancing Germans were opposed only by a New Zealand infantry battalion and threatened to outflank the retreating Commonwealth column reported in Wartime no.
