Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Philip was the youngest of eight children of Alexander Hume Gillan (b1883 in Lanarkshire, Scotland) and Annie Matilda Carpenter (b1885 in Northampton WA). Alexander (an Engine Cleaner) and Annie married in 1906 in Geraldton WA. Alexander worked for Harbours and Rivers Department in Newcastle NSW before arriving in Midland Junction WA in 1902 and starting work for the WAGR as an Engine Cleaner. Alexander moved to Geraldton WA in 1903 and by 1912 the family was living in Midland Junction where Alexander was a Fireman - he died in 1915.

Philip was a Labourer in Fremantle WA in March 1940 when he enlisted in the Australian Army (Private; Service No:WX1798). He served with 2/11th Infantry Battalion in the Middle East and was in Crete in August 1941 when he was WiA (bullet wound to right hand) and captured by the Germans (Prisoner No:7909). Philip was interned in Gemany (Stalag XIII - C; Stalag VIII - B/Stalag 344; and Field Hospital 95). He was recovered on 5 May 1945 and returned to Australia later that month. Philip was Discharged in November 1945. Brother Leslie (Private: Service No: WX10060) was also a PoW and died in Malaya in 1944.

In 1947 Philip was working as a Lumper in Fremantle WA when he married Josephine Dorothy Vandenberg (nee Kelly; b1917 in Perth WA). The couple settled in Fremantle where Philip worked as a Lumper and Labourer. Following Josephine's death in 1970, Philip remarried in 1976 - Mavis Isobel Bartlett (nee Arbuthnott; b 1918 in Fremantle WA) - Mavis, a Widow, had served in the AAWMS in WWII. Philip died in 1982 and Mavis in 1986.