SHOVE, Sydney Leonard
| Service Number: | WX6937 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 30 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Devonport, England, 28 February 1905 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Truck driver |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 12 September 1998, aged 93 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park, Padbury, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 30 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, WX6937, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Apr 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 13 Training Battalion, from Fremantle; disembarked in the Middle East on 14 May 1941 | |
| 17 Jul 1941: | Involvement Private, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, marched out from training battalion | |
| 24 Dec 1941: | Promoted Corporal, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, acting; rank confirmed 8 May 1942 | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned Siege of Tobruk, missing in action; officially reported POW on 30 Nov 1942; interned Camps 82 and 106; arrived in UK on 11 Oct 1944 | |
| 13 Oct 1944: | Embarked UK; disembarked in Melbourne, Australia on 16 Nov 1944; by train to Perth, Western Australia, arriving 22 Nov 1944, admitted to convalescent hospital | |
| 31 Jul 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, WX6937, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Sydney Leonard Shove's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Sydney was the only son of Harry Leonard 'Len' and Lilian SHOVE, from Devonport, Devon, England. His father served in the British Army in WWI.
Syd's mother, Lilian, died in 1919 at age 35. His father remarried the following year to Mabel Ann ROCKEY, with whom he had two sons, Maxwell and Norman, half-brothers to Syd.
Len, Mabel, Syd, Maxwell and Norman emigrated to Western Australia in 1923 aboard Balranald. Syd was 18 years old. Sadly, Mabel died young too, in 1929 at age 36. Syd's father remarried again in 1931 to widow Annie Elizabeth GREENFIELD, nee MOLE.
Syd enlisted in July 1940 and trained in Northam. His half-brother, Maxwell, enlisted a month later at age 21, followed by his other half-brother, Norman, a year later at age 19. Their father Len also enlisted as a cook, giving his age as 52, but he was actually about 60 years old.
Syd was engaged in February 1941 to Agnes Mary WARNOCK, known as Mary, and they were married on 1 March 1941 at St George's Cathedral in Perth. Syd embarked for the Middle East about six weeks later.
Syd was captured at Ruin Ridge at Alamein. He 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. Syd was one of 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
Syd died in 1998 in Perth at age 93. Agnes also lived a long life, passing at age 90 in 2007.
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