From RAAF Base Darwin, a young Brian Winspear saw Japanese bombs glinting in the sun like confetti above Darwin on February 19, 1942.
The RAAF wireless air gunner received shell splinters in his hand and eye in the first Japanese attack, which was the largest on the Australian mainland by a foreign power.
More bombs were dropped on Darwin in the first raid than the Japanese dropped on Pearl Harbour in 1941.
The 242 Japanese aircraft destroyed infrastructure, including the post office, telegraph lines, and residential and commercial buildings.
Multiple naval and merchant ships were sunk or damaged, while wharf facilities sustained heavy bombardment, and aircraft were destroyed at the RAAF airfield.
As the Australian military responded, Mr Winspear, who flew in Hudson light bombers, said he watched 12 aircrew burn as their aircraft caught fire, describing their take-off as "tail-heavy".
"If someone didn't come back, there was no mourning, no funerals, no anything," Mr Winspear said.
Two-hundred-and-six people were killed in the attacks, with more wounded.
'The Bombing of Darwin underscored the importance of a well-prepared and well-defended northern Australia.'
Mr Winspear flew a reconnaissance mission to then-Timor a day after the bombing, coming under anti-aircraft fire from the Japanese fleet that was landing troops there.
The February 19 bombing marked the start of almost two years of attacks on Darwin, with more than 100 air raids targeting Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
During the 83rd commemoration last month at the Darwin Cenotaph War Memorial, gunners from the 102nd Battery, 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, re-enacted the initial response to the attacks, blank-firing historical M2A2 105mm howitzers and MAG58 machine guns to replicate Army's anti-aircraft defence.
Commander 1 Brigade, Brigadier Doug Pashley, said the bombing of Darwin was a reminder that Australia was not immune from conflict.
With Defence's renewed focus on northern Australia's role in national security, the lessons of the past were reinforced.
"The Bombing of Darwin underscored the importance of a well-prepared and well-defended northern Australia," Brigadier Pashley said.
