One of the last surviving World War II veterans to witness the Darwin bombings says the diggers involved never got the recognition they deserved.

Tasmanian Brian Winspear can still picture the sun glinting off the bombs like confetti as hell rained down on the city 75 years ago.

Sirens blared as the then 21-year-old air gunner bolted for the trenches close to the RAAF hangar when the first of 188 enemy aircraft appeared on the horizon. Japan’s deadly campaign brought a distant war to home soil, and the Northern Territory had become the frontline.

The 96-year-old digger has travelled thousands of kilometres back to ground zero to mark Sunday’s anniversary of the NT’s darkest hour.

Yet three quarters of a century on, Mr Winspear says the story has stayed in the shadows.

“At the time there was no publicity whatsoever, the government was so ashamed of being caught with their pants down with no defence,” he said in Darwin on Friday.

Once in the trenches, Mr Winspear put a tin helmet on and a cork between his teeth “to stop concussion” as planes flew overhead. He said he could see the pilots grinning.

“It was bloody hell,” he said.

“As we looked up the sun glinted on the bombs ... it was just like confetti.”

Mr Winspear is among 29 diggers who made the pilgrimage to Darwin to ensure the cost of war is never downplayed again. “For goodness sake, don’t forget to remember,” he said.

■ Get your 56-page Bombing of Darwin commemorative magazine with the Sunday Territorian