SYDNEY -- The Australian and Japanese navies, in an unpublicized ceremony, jointly paid homage earlier this month to the bravery of two young Japanese submariners who raided Sydney Harbor in 1942.
The ceremony continues an Australian tradition of honoring the courage of the attackers of Sydney almost 65 years.
Sub-Lt. Katsuhisa Ban, 23, and his navigator, Petty Officer Mamoru Ashibe, 24, killed 21 naval ratings, mostly Australian, when they fired a torpedo at the barracks ship HMAS Kuttabul from their midget submarine M24.