NORGROVE, David Henry
| Service Number: | V125192 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 March 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 23 June 1913 |
| Home Town: | Fitzroy, Yarra, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Rubber worker (Dunlop Rubber Company) |
| Died: | Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, January 1980, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Public unmarked grave. |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 25 Mar 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V125192 | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 May 1944: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V125192 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Daniel Jones
Norgrove, David Henry. Late V125192 Private, 29 Battalion CMF (The East Melbourne Regiment).
David Henry Norgrove was born as David Henry Kitson on the 23 June 1913 in Collingwood, Victoria, to David Henry Kitson Sr., a boot finisher, and Edith May Morrison. The oldest of two brothers (His brother Hebert Leslie George Kitson was two years younger.), David Jr’s parents went through a divorce in 1920 on grounds of desertion, in which, his mother Edith left the children with their father, and in 1916, returning two months later to take them with her. David Sr. took back the children in 1920, as Edith could no longer care for them. Tragically by August 1920, David Sr. had passed away and the children went back to live with their mother. Edith remarried in 1923, this time to Richard Olpert Norgrove, a rubber worker.
The electoral rolls of the 1920s and 1930s show that David Jr had seemingly followed his stepfather’s footsteps and the two were both employed at the Dunlop Rubber factory in Montague. The electoral rolls show that the family lived at various addresses in Fitzroy.
When war broke out, David answered the call. The 27-year-old rubber worker enlisted on the 25 March 1941. He was classed as medically unfit for active service, but was accepted for home service. (He was partially deaf). Initially serving with the 29th Battalion in Bonegilla, he was transferred to the Small Arms School there. He was discharged on the 23 May 1944 to return to his pre-war occupation with the Dunlop Rubber Company.
The following decades saw David work as a cleaner, and live at various addresses in the Melbourne suburbs. He died in Collingwood, Victoria in January 1980, aged 66 years. He was survived by his stepfather Richard (1899-1981) and his brother Herbert (1915-1994). His mother Edith died in 1946. David never married. It is unclear if he became estranged from his remaining family.
He was buried in an unmarked public grave at Springvale Botanical Cemetery.
Lest we forget.