ROSS, Robert Keith
| Service Number: | NX17390 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 May 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Maylands, Perth, Western Australia, 1 February 1912 |
| Home Town: | Inverell, Inverell, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Warrant Officer II |
| Died: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia , 26 March 1982, aged 70 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Rookwood Cemeteries & Crematorium, New South Wales The New South Wales Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 27 May 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, NX17390, 2nd/13th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, NX17390, 2nd/13th Infantry Battalion, embarked Sydney on board HMAS Queen Mary for Palestine | |
| 28 Apr 1941: | Imprisoned | |
| 29 Aug 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, NX17390, 2nd/13th Infantry Battalion, embarked England for Sydney on board the Stirling Castle | |
| 4 Jul 1947: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, NX17390, 2nd/13th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Eldest of three siblings who served in WWII, Lieutenant Robert Keith Ross (Service No:NX17390) was serving in the Australian Instructional Corps (AIC) as Sergeant, Warrant Officer II and Regimental Sergeant Major (Service No:5903) with 35th and 44th Battalions. On 27 May 1940 he was seconded to the AIF, and was a Lieutenant attached to 2/13th Infantry Battalion on 19 October 1940 when he embarked with his Unit from Sydney for Palestine on board HMAS Queen Mary. Lieutenant Ross was reported MiA in Egypt on 11 May 1941, and was confirmed a PoW on 13 October 1941. The Berlin Broadcast of 12 October 1943 reported that he was transported to Oflag V-A (PoW camp for Officers in Weinsburg, Germany), and on 18 May 1945 he was recovered from the Germans and hospitalised in England. On 13 July 1945 Lieutenant Ross was appointed Orderly Officer at 3 AIF Reception Camp UK, and on 28 August 1945 he embarked from England for Sydney on board the Stirling Castle. Hospitalised in 113 Concord Military Hospital, Lieutenant Ross was attached to 2/13 Infantry Battalion when his Appointment was Terminated on 4 July 1947.
Born in 1912 in Perth, Western Australia, Bob was the eldest of three children (and only son) of Robert James Ross (b1895 in Armidale, New South Wales) and Emily Rose Mary Symonds (b1892 in Albany, Western Australia). Robert served a five year apprenticeship in Yarloop, and was a Locomotive Fitter in 1911 when he and Emily married in Bunbury. Robert enlisted in the AIF in 1916 (Private; Service No:3641), but was Discharged within a fortnight at the request of the Munitions Committee. Robert and Emily settled in Perth, where they raised their family and Robert was a Locomotive Fitter. In the 1930s he joined the Civil Service as an Inspector of Machinery until retirement.
Bob worked in Sydney as an Office Manager, and in 1930 enlisted the Australian Instructional Corps (AIC) as a Drill Instructor, serving at Inverell with 35th and 44th Battalions before secondment to the AIF in 1940. In 1946 in Sydney, Bob married Alice (aka Clare) Frances Clare Healy (nee Keating; b1910 in Perth, Western Australia). Bob and Clare settled in Sydney, where they raised their family and Bob was a Salesman and Manufacturers' Representative/Agent, and by 1961 Director of Robert Ross & Co - Wholesale Distributors. Bob and Clare separated in the early 1970s, and Bob remarried. Both Bob and Clare died in 1982.
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