GRAFTON was shaken to its core on December 11, 1943.

On that Saturday afternoon more than half a century ago, 13 cubs lost their lives in the Clarence River and seeing three of the bodies dragged from the river is an image that has stuck with Bruce Gleeson.

“It’s not something you easily forget,” he said.

As the event has always stayed strongly with him, Bruce has been on a campaign to ensure the tragedy is remembered.

“The memorial at Memorial Park is going to have a bit of a facelift with paving, but I would really like to see the grave sites on both sides of the river restored,” Bruce said.

While he agrees the job is up to families, he says many live a fair distance from Grafton so he would like to see the community come together to clean the graves. The scene on the river bank that day was heartwrenching, he said.

The scouts and cubs were enjoying a Christmas picnic on Susan Island but with a storm approaching, organisers decided to put all the boys onto a punt and return across the river.

Parents watched in horror as 28 boys and three older scouts on the punt got into difficulties in rough water in the middle of the river. The punt capsized, throwing the boys into the water.

Reports said the lads clung to each other in the water, increasing the death toll as they dragged each other under.

Bowlers at the nearby club launched boats and rescued 15 boys. The rescue and the subsequent recovery of the bodies was harrowing. Mothers had to be restrained from walking into the river to look for their sons. By 10pm, the last of the bodies was recovered.

The victims

Robert Wilkes, 10, Grafton.

Allan Tobin, 9, South Grafton

Robert Rennie, 10, Grafton.

Keith Rennie, 8, Grafton

Dale Thornbourne, 10, South Grafton.

Graham Corbett, 9, South Grafton.

Cecil Lambert, 8, Grafton.

Raymond Retchford, Grafton

Allan Spicer, South Grafton.

William Robert Dillon, 8, South Grafton

Brian Munns, 9, South Grafton

Raymond Morris, 8, South Grafton

Richard John Steinhours, 8, South Grafton