MCKELVIE, George Ernest
| Service Number: | WX15377 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 July 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Warren, Western Australia, 1 July 1915 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Truck driver and mechanic |
| Died: | 11 February 1972, aged 56 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 24 Jul 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX15377, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct 1942: | Imprisoned Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, reported missing believed POW 22 Jul 1942; interned Italy, then Switzerland; returned to Australia (via UK) in Oct 1944 | |
| 19 May 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX15377, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
George was the third of 11 children born to George and Jessie. George jnr enlisted in July 1941. He was appointed Acting Lance Corporal and then Acting Corporal while in the training battalion in Northam, embarking for the Middle East from Fremantle in Nov 1941. He reverted to Private on joining the 2/32nd Battalion.
George was a POW for just over two years. He was a POW on board the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio when it was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 August 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. George was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He was returned to Australia, arriving in Perth in Nov 1944. In March 1945, he got engaged to Bertha 'Bonnie' EARNSHAW, who was a Lance Corporal with the AWAS; they married soon after.