PATON, Ray
| Service Number: | NX34604 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/3rd Anti Tank / Tank Attack Regiment |
| Born: | Manly, New South Wales, Australia, 3 August 1915 |
| Home Town: | Manly, Manly Vale, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | storeman |
| Died: | Seaforth, New South Wales, Australia, 30 December 2002, aged 87 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 18 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX34604 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Nov 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Gunner, 2nd/3rd Anti Tank / Tank Attack Regiment, embarked from Sydney on Orion, disembarked Haifa, Israel on 18 Dec 1940 | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, missing in action 27 Jul 1942; officially reported POW 30 Sep 1942; interned various camps | |
| 22 Jan 1945: | Embarked returned to UK as repat POW 2 Dec 1944 ex-Italy; transhipped at Bombay 14 Mar 1945; disembarked in Melbourne 28 Mar 1945 | |
| 1 Sep 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX34604 |
Help us honour Ray Paton's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Ray was the eldest of two sons born to Claude PATON and Emily PINCINI of Manly, NSW. His brother, George, also served in WWII.
Ray's father died in 1932 when Ray was only a teenager.
On enlistment, he was attached to the 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment as a gunner. He was captured at El Alamein when his unit was surrounded by the enemy. He was initially held at Benghazi (Libya).
Ray 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. Ray was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He was then interned, briefly, at Patras (Greece) and Bari (Italy), before being transfered to Gruppignano (Udine, NE Italy) and lastly Vercelli (Italy).
Ray and two others (Pte Vicar and Pte Ryan) escaped from Vercelli on 8 Sep 1943, with the intention of making their way to Switzerland. They found a guide in Graglia and continued to Lilliana. They were forced to turn back, living in the lower alps for 14 months, including a period at a partisan post. Along with a small group of other Australian and British escapees, Ray made it to Allies forces in France in Oct 1944. He was discharged in Sep 1945.
Ray married Edna Ivy McKEAGUE in 1949 in North Sydney. He died in 2002, aged 87.