Harold Gordon (Lal) PEEK

PEEK, Harold Gordon

Service Numbers: NX5544, NX5544,
Enlisted: 3 November 1939
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion
Born: Wellington, New South Wales, Australia, 13 April 1915
Home Town: Bathurst, Bathurst Regional, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Drover
Died: Clare, South Australia, 30 November 1981, aged 66 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Clare General Cemetery, South Australia
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

3 Nov 1939: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion
10 Jan 1940: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544,, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, embarked Sydney for Kantara and served in Greece in 1941
21 Jan 1941: Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, Siege of Tobruk
27 Apr 1941: Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Crete
17 Mar 1942: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, embarked Middle East for RTA per HMT Rajula
14 Oct 1944: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, embarked Cairns for Aitape per USAT Mexico
2 Nov 1944: Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, Aitape - Wewak, New Guinea, The 2/4th landed at Aitape in New Guinea on 2 November 1944 to undertake its only campaign against the Japanese. Its most intense effort took place between April and July. Landed at But, the battalion advanced along the coast, captured Wewak on 10 May, and then swung inland to clear the foothills of the Prince Alexander Range. For his actions during the attack on Wirui Mission on 14 May, Private Edward Kenna was awarded the Victoria Cross.
20 Sep 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544,, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion, embarked Wewak for Brisbane per Katoomba
12 Oct 1945: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX5544, 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Harold Gordon Peek (Service No:NX5544) enlisted in the AIF on 9 November 1939 and embarked from Sydney for Kantara with 2nd/4th Infantry Battalion on 10 January 1940. Private Peek served in Greece (Crete) in 1941 and embarked for the RTA on 17 March 1942 on board HMT Rajula. Private Peek served in the Northern Territory (6 June 1942 - 30 may 1943) and embarked from Cairns for Aitape on 10 October 1944 on board USAT Mexico. He embarked from Wewak for Brisbane on 20 September 1945 on board the Katoomba and was Discharged on 12 October 1945.

Born in 1915 in Wellington NSW, Lal was the second of four children of William (Billy) Thomas Peek (b1886 at Ironbark, NSW) and his first wife Susan Elizabeth Wilson (nee Dora; b1877 at Gibsons Station, Macquarie River, NSW). Billy (a Fettler) and Susan (a Widow with a son) married abt 1913 in Narromine, NSW and settled in Wellington where they raised their family and Billy was a Railways Worker. Following Susan's death in 1923, Billy remarried.

Lal was a Farm Labourer and Drover, and in October 1945 gave his occupation as a Drover in Sydney when he married Beryl Irene Agst (b1922 in Ourimbah, NSW) - Beryl was  a Paper Pattern Cutter in Sydney. Lal and Beryl lived in Gosford and Toronto, Newcastle NSW where Lal worked for the Railways as a Fattler and Ganger. In the 1970s the couple moved to Clare, South Australia where Lal died in 1981 and Beryl in 1997.

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