THOM, Ronald James
| Service Number: | WX5101 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Perth, Western Australia, Australia , 3 May 1917 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Truck driver |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 1 May 1974, aged 56 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 23 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX5101, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked from Fremantle as Private; disembarked Middle East on 2 Feb 1941; appointed Lance Corporal 14 Feb 1941 | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, reported missing in action; officially reported POW 3 Oct 1942 | |
| 13 Oct 1944: | Embarked from UK (ex Italy); disembarked in Melbourne, Australia on 17 Nov 1944; by train to Perth the following day, arriving 22 Nov 1944 | |
| 21 Apr 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX5101, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Ronald James Thom's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Ronald, known as Ron, was the only son of James William King THOM and Edith Louise BARRETT. He had an older sister named Jean Winifred, known as Win or Winnie.
Ron's father James William, known as Billy, died in April 1924 shortly before Ron's 7th birthday. Aged only 47, Billy was an accountant for department store Harris, Scarfe and Sandover Ltd, and Commodore of the Perth Dinghy Club.
Ron enlisted at age 23. He was described as having auburn hair and green eyes. Within 4 months of arriving in Palestine, he was graded Group II Intelligence Duties. A month later, in July 1941, he became ill with a fever and was evacuated to 4 Australian General Hospital, where he remained for 2 weeks before rejoining his unit.
Almost exactly a year later, his unit was captured at El Alamein when surrounded by German tanks, and ordered to surrender by the commanding officer. Ron was a POW on board the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio when it was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 August 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. Ron both survived the incident, along with 121 other Australian POWs.
Ron spent over a year in internment camps, which he described as overcrowded. On 10 Sep 1943, 2 days after Italy's surrender, the entire camp was set free by the Italian guards. Ron returned to Carpeneto, where he lived with an Italian family for a week.
The Germans then issued a proclamation that all people who housed POW's would be shot, and he decided to leave for Switzerland. He walked some distance with a group of other POWs but they could not get a guide to take them further.
They stayed at Salussola for 3 days before continuing on to Selve, staying with friends for 2 days. They finally reached Switzerland after 16 days, including crossing Mont Moro in the Pennine Alps, which took 6 and half hours through the snow.
On Ron's return to Western Australia, he spent some months in hospital for treatment. On discharge in April 1945, he was described as 'unfit for heavy work, fit to work as tea room proprietor'.
In June 1948, Ron married Roma Margaret HINSON, younger sister of fellow POW from the 2/28, George HINSON, at the Congregational Church in Busselton, Western Australia. His best man, Robert 'Bob' BELL, was also a POW from the 2/28 (WX5930), and so was his groomsman Cyril BIDDLE (WX5037).
Ron and Roma ran the Busselton Team Rooms. They had a son James (Jimmy) in 1949. Ron died in 1974 at only 56. Roma died in 2010 in Perth at age 84; she did not remarry.