PROSSER, David Ewart Benjamin
| Service Numbers: | F2595/19, 532520 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 September 1939 |
| Last Rank: | Seaman |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/7th Field Ambulance |
| Born: | London, England, 16 January 1919 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Junior Mechanic (PMGs Dpt) |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 30 May 1995, aged 76 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia The WA Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 5 Sep 1939: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Seaman, F2595/19 | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Sep 1939: | Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Ordinary Seaman, F2595/19, HMAS Cerberus (Shore) | |
| 23 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, 532520, 2nd/7th Field Ambulance | |
| 1 Jun 1944: | Imprisoned Battle of Crete, PoW No: 92436 Crete; Stalag XIII-C - Bavaria; Stalag VIII-B/ Stalag 344 – Lansdorf Silesia; Stalag VII-A | |
| 13 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, 532520, 2nd/7th Field Ambulance | |
| 28 Sep 1947: | Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Seaman, F2595/19 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Major David Ewart Benjamin Prosser (Service No:532530) first enlisted in the RAN in 1939, serving briefly as an Ordinary Seaman (Service No:F25/95/19) on HMAS Cerberus V. He then enlisted in the Army as a Private (Service No:WX4748) attached to 2/7 Field Ambulance and was captured by the Germans (PoW No:92436) in Crete on 1 June 1944. Private Prosser was interned at Stalag XIII - C in Bavaria, Stalag VIII-B/Stalag 344 in Silesia and was liberated from Stalag Vii-A in 1945. By 1949 he was a Lieutenant (Service No:532530) in the Army, serving with Royal Australian Army Pay Corps. In 1964 Captain Prosser was awarded the Australian Efficiency Decoration, and in 1969 the First Clasp to the Australian Efficiency Decoration. In 1967, Major Prosser (Royal Australian Army Pay Corps) was awarded an MBE.
Born in 1919 in London England, David was the eldest of four children of Ewart Francis Prosser (b1897 in Cardiff, Wales) and Winifred Mary Dennison (b1897 in Yorkshire, Wales. Ewart had served in the British Army in WWI (Private; Regimental No:7/28548) with Royal Inickilling Fusiliers 3rd Welsh in France. He was a Plate Layer in Cardiff before enlisting in 1915, and was a Labourer in London in 1918 when he and Winifred married. Ewart and Winifred immigrated with their two eldest children, arriving in Fremantle WA in 1922 under the Group Settlement 18 Scheme. The family lived in Cowaramup where Ewart was a Settler for two years - under the Group 18 Scheme, settlers travelled to their selection by horse and dray, built humpies from whatever was to hand, and were intended to be self sufficient. By 1925 Ewart had relocated his family to Bassendean in Perth WA where he was a Labourer and Foundry Worker at the Midland Railway Workshops.
David started work in 1935 as a Junior Mechanic with the Post Master General's Department and in 1939 served briefly in the RAN before enlisting in the Army. In 1947 in Perth WA, David married Joan Raymer Bell (b1924 in Perth, WA). David re-enlisted in the Army, and was awarded the Efficiency Decoration and Clasp, Long Service Medal and an MBE. David and Joan lived in Perth and Fremantle, then Darwin in the Northern Territory in the 1970s before retiring to Perth where David died in 1995 and Joan in 1997.