ROUSE, Thomas Joseph
| Service Number: | WX5963 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Birmingham, England, 25 March 1920 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Farm Labourer |
| Died: | Busselton, Western Australia, 11 June 1985, aged 65 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Busselton Cemetery, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 29 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX5963, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, Fremantle; disembarked in Palestine on 2 Feb 1941 | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned officially reported POW 23 Oct 1942; interned Camp 57, then 1906; entered Switzerland from Italy in Feb 1944 | |
| 13 Oct 1944: | Embarked UK; disembarked in Melbourne, Australia on 17 Nov 1944; by train to Western Australia, arriving 22 Nov 1944 | |
| 21 Mar 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX5963, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Thomas Joseph Rouse's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Thomas was a son of Thomas and Lily ROUSE of Birmingham, England. He arrived in Western Australia in 1931 aboard Oronsay as a Fairbridge child. His parents and five siblings stayed in England; his mother died in 1942, while he was serving overseas.
He gave his date of birth at enlistment as 25 March 1920, but his birth was registered in the second quarter of 1921.
Thomas 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. Thomas was one of 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He married Sylvia Roma CHILTON in December 1949 at the Methodist Church in Boyup Brook, Western Australia (Sylvia's hometown). They had five children. Thomas died in 1985 at age 64; his wife Sylvia lived to age 94.
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