MCLAREN, Thomas Alexander
| Service Numbers: | NX41211, NX41211 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 August 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Anti Tank Batteries / Companies |
| Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 24 August 1905 |
| Home Town: | Narrabri, Narrabri, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Assistant Signal Sectionman |
| Died: | Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, 5 May 1991, aged 85 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Lismore Memorial Gardens (Cemetery & Crematorium - Goonellabah) Queensland Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 28 Aug 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX41211 | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Dec 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Gunner, NX41211, Anti Tank Batteries / Companies, embarked for Darwin for Koepang, Timor on board the HMAS Westralia |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Apr 1942: | Imprisoned PoW (No: 1756) held by Japanese – Timor and Java |
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World War 2 Service
| 8 Feb 1946: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX41211 |
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Help us honour Thomas Alexander Mclaren's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private Thomas Alexander McLaren (Service No:NX41211) enlisted in the AIF on 28 August 1940 with 27 Anti Tank Coy - Gunner. He was one of twenty seven Gunners attached to 18 Anti Tank Battery B Troop on 10 December 1941 when he embarked with his Unit as part of Sparrow Force from Darwin, landing at Usapa Besar, West Timor. Reported Missing on 22 April 1942, Private McLaren (with all except one other of B Troops Gunners) was confirmed a PoW (PoW No:1756) held by the Japanes in Timor and Java. Recovered from the Japanese on 23 September 1945, Private McLaren emplaned for Cairns for onward movement to Brisbane where he was hospitalised before Discharge on 4 February 1946. Older brothers Daniel and William served in WWI.
Born in Brisbane, QLD in 1905, Tom was youngest of nine children of Daniel McLaren (b1857 in Ipswich, QLD) and Elizabeth Margaret Fullerton (b1867 in Ipswich, QLD). Daniel and Elizabeth married in 1887 in Brisbane, where they settled and raised their family. Daniel worked as a Labourer before joining QLD Rail in 1920, initially as a Shedman and later as a Driver.
Tom served with the Senior Cadets and worked as a Painter and Assistant Section Manager before enlisting in the Army. Following his Discharge, Tom was working as a Labourer in 1949 in Sydney, when he married Dormer Helen Ramsay (nee Jordan: b1909 in New York, USA) - Dormer, a Widow, was a Fabric Worker in Bondi. Tom and Dormer lived in Bondi, Sydney before settling in Lismore in the early 1960s (Tom lists 'No Occupation' in the Electoral Rolls post 1949), Dormer died in 1986 and Tom in 1991.
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