Thomas Hugh (Tom) MATTHEWS

Thomas Hugh (Tom) MATTHEWS Update Details

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MATTHEWS, Thomas Hugh

Service Number:	VX79230
Enlisted:	16 April 1942
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/8th Armoured Regiment
Born:	Sale, Victoria, Australia, 7 August 1922
Home Town:	Sale, Gippsland, Victoria
Schooling:	Seaspray Primary School, Sale, Victoria, Australia
Occupation:	Truck Driver
Died:	Sale, Victoria, Australia, 7 August 2012, aged 90 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Sale Public Cemetery
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

16 Apr 1942:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX79230, 2nd/8th Armoured Regiment
28 Apr 1943:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Trooper, VX79230, 2nd/8th Armoured Regiment, embarked Brisbane for Fall River on board Tarooma
10 Feb 1944:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Trooper, VX79230, 2nd/8th Armoured Regiment, embarked Buna for Townsville on board Katoomba
11 Aug 1944:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX79230, 2nd/8th Armoured Regiment

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Trooper Thomas Hugh Matthews (Service No:VX79230) served with the Army from 16 April 1942 to 11 August 1944. Trooper Matthews served with 2/8 Armoured Regiment in New Guinea (Fall River, Milne Bay, Buna) from 28 April 1943 to 10 February 1944, and was hospitalised with Malaria. Trooper Matthews was Discharged on compassionate grounds on 11 August 1944. Two of his older siblings also served in WWII - John served in the RAAF and Garfield served in the AIF and was killed in Tobruk.

Born in Sale, Victoria in 1922, Tom was fifth of six children of Albert James Matthews (b1882 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Gertrude Elizabeth Thomas (b1889 in Melbourne, Victoria). Both Albert (a Grazier) and Gertrude (a Clerk) were living in Sale when they married in 1919. They settled in Sale where they raised their family and Albert was a Grazier.

Tom was working in Sale as a Truck Driver in 1942 when he enlisted in the Army. Following his Discharge, he returned to Sale where he was a Grazier in 1948 when he married Jean Mary Stephenson (b1924 in Sale, Victoria). Tom and Jean settled in Sale where they raised their family and Tom was a Grazier. Tom died in 2012 and Jean in 2023.

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