SLOAN, Mervyn George
| Service Number: | WX3756 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Rockingham, Western Australia, 22 June 1914 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Dairyhand |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 2 August 1969, aged 55 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 1 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX3756, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, from Fremantle; disembarked Palestine on 2 Feb 1941 | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, missing in action; officially reported POW 28 Oct 1942; interned camp 106 (El Danura), camp 57 (Udine) from Sep 1942 to Mar 1943 and Barconi Mar 1943 to Sep 1943 | |
| 13 Oct 1944: | Embarked from UK (ex Italy) to Australia; disembarked in Melbourne on 17 Nov 1944; entrained the next day for Perth, arriving 22 Nov 1944 | |
| 7 Apr 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX3756, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Mervyn, known as George, was the second of 5 sons born to Percy James SLOAN and Grace Page HANRETTY; one son died in infancy. Percy and Grace also had 3 daughters.
George and his 3 surviving brothers enlisted in WWII. The eldest, Thomas, was declared missing in action presumed dead in Greece in 1941, at age 29. The youngest brothers, Francis and Vivian, were twins.
George was described as 5' 9" tall, with grey eyes and fair hair. He had tattoos on both forearms.
In July 1942, George's battalion was surrounded by German tanks at El Alamein, and ordered to surrender by the commanding officer. 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. George was one of 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
George described the behaviour of internment camp staff as 'vindictive and childish'. On his release on 11 Sep 1943, he proceeded to Switzerland with partisan troops.
George married Ivy WOLFE, nee MORTIMER, in 1949 in Fremantle WA. Ivy's first husband was Wylie Walter WOLFE (US Navy, of Oklahoma, based in California), who she had married in Fremantle in 1946.
George died in 1969 at only 55; Ivy died in 2014 at age 88; she did not remarry.
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