RAINBOW, Reuben Leslie
| Service Number: | TX3821 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Pioneer, Tasmania, 28 July 1912 |
| Home Town: | Scottsdale, Dorset, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Scottsdale, Tasmania, 5 March 1990, aged 77 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Moorina Cemetery, Tasmania https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239603081/reuben-leslie-rainbow |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 9 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, TX3821, 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Dec 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, TX3821, 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion, ex Darwin for Koepang, Timor | |
| 25 Apr 1942: | Imprisoned Reported Missing, confirmed PoW on 15 June 1942 and recovered from Changi Prison Camp on 17 September 1945 | |
| 24 Sep 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, TX3821, 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion, ex Singapore to Darwin per Arawa | |
| 14 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, TX3821, 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Corporal Reuben Leslie Rainbow (Service No:TX3821) initially enlisted in the Militia on 29 July 1939 with 22nd Light Horse before enlisting in the AIF on 9 July 1940. Corporal Rainbow served with 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion in the Northern Territory (8 April 1941 - 8 December 1941). On 8 December 1941 he embarked from Darwin for Koepand, Timor and was reported MiA on 25 April 1942. Confirmed as a PoW of the Japanese (PoW No:17228) on 15 June 1942, Corporal Rainbow was recovered from Changi Prison Camp on 17 September 1945. He embarked from Singapore on 24 September 1945 on board the Arawa, and was hospitalised in Darwin before returning to Hobart via Sydney. Corporal Rainbow was Discharged on 14 December 1945.
The eldest of eight children, Bill (aka Plugger) was born in 1912 at Pioneer in Tasmania to Reuben Henry James Rainbow (b1889 at Ringarooma, Tasmania) and Maud Mary Lavinia Wood (b1893 at Ringarooma, Tasmania). Reuben (a Wood Carter) and Maud married in 1911 at Garibaldi in Tasmania and lived in Pioneer, Bradshaw's Creek and Ringarooma where Reuben was a Wood Carter and Farmer.
Bill worked as a Miner at Winnaleah in Tasmania before enlisting in the Militia in 1939. In 1940 at Scottsdale, Bill married Elsie May Davey (b1920 in Deddington, Tasmania), and following Bill's return from WWII, the couple settled in Ringarooma where they raised their family and Bill worked as a Labourer. Bill died in 1990 and Elsie in 2011.
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