RICHARDSON, John Christopher
| Service Numbers: | VX36333, VX36333 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/5th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | North Gippsland,Victoria, Australia, 22 January 1905 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Wood Cutter |
| Died: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 March 1986, aged 81 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne The Victorian Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 5 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX36333 | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Feb 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX36333, 2nd/5th Infantry Battalion , embarked Port Melbourne for Middle East | |
| 14 Jun 1941: | Imprisoned The Battle for Crete - May 1941, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Stalag 344 and Stalag VII-A, Moosberg in Bavaria | |
| 2 Oct 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX36333, 2nd/5th Infantry Battalion , embarked England for Melbourne on board Otranto | |
| 19 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX36333 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private John Christopher Richardson (Service No:VX36333) enlisted in the AIF on 5 July 1940, and was attached to 2/5th Infantry Battalion on 5 February 1941 when he embarked with his Unit from Port Melbourne for the Middle East. Reported missing from Crete on 14 June 1941, Private Richardson was confirmed as a PoW of the Germans on 14 November 1941. Held at Stalag VIII-B/Stalag 344 in Lamsdorf and Stalag VII-A in Mooseberg, Bavaria, Private Richardson was recovered from the Germans on 15 May 1945 and embarked from England for Melbourne on board the Otranto on 22 October 1945. Private Richardson was attached to 2/5th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 19 December 1945.
Jack was born at Aberfeldy, Victoria in 1905, seventh of ten children of Thomas Richardson (b1861 in Rushworth, Victoria) and Catherine Carldina Marcapolo (b1871 in Jordan, Victoria). Thomas was a Blacksmith in 1891 when he and Catherine married in Aberfeldy, where they settled and raised their family and Thomas was a Blacksmith. Following Catherine's death in 1914, Thomas moved to Morwell where he worked as a Blacksmith and Labourer.
Jack worked in Yackandandah and Mt Camel via Bendigo as a Labourer, and in 1940 when he enlisted in the AIF was working as a Woodcutter at Mt Camel via Bendigo. Hospitalised follwoing his Discharge in 1945, Jack was a Farmer at Menzies Creek via Maffra in Gippsland, and moved to Melbourne in 1954 where he was working as a Driver when he married Marion (May) Robertson Gronbeck (b1911 in Glasgow, Scotland). May had immigrated with her family in 1912, arriving in Brisbane, QLD on board the Demosthenes, and served in WWII (Private; Service Nos:Vf64867/V18669) in the Middle East and Borneo. Jack and May lived at Menzies Creek and Sherbrooke (abt 40 km out of Melbourne) where May worked as a Nurse and Jack was unemployed through the 1960s. In the 1970s Jack worked as a Gardener in Sherbrooke. Jack died in 1986 and May in 1994.
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