MARTINSON, Stanley George
| Service Number: | WX7223 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 August 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bunbury, WA, 5 August 1914 |
| Home Town: | Bunbury, Bunbury, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | hoist driver (mining) |
| Died: | 23 July 1999, aged 84 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Bunbury General Cemetery, Bunbury, Western Australia Ashes collected; late of Eaton, aged 84 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 1 Aug 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX7223, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug 1941: | Imprisoned Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, Reported missing 3 Apr 1941 | |
| 1 Jul 1943: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
| 9 Mar 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX7223, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Stanley George Martinson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Stanley was the second of four children born to George and Irene. The family lived in Charles Street, Bunbury. Stanley, known as Bub, was a keen sportsman and a member of the Bunbury City Band.
He moved from Bunbury to Laverton in about 1935 to work in a gold mine. At the time of his enlistment, he was working at the Gladiator Gold Mine.
Stanley 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. He was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident. Most of the 41 casualties were from Stanley's battalion.
Stanley was interned in a POW camp, first in Italy and then in Switzerland. In 1944, his mother in Bunbury received a letter, written in German, from a Swiss pilot he had befriended (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/252969510). He finally arrived home in WA in Nov 1944.
Stanley married Patrica PALMER on 9 May 1953 in Kojonup (Katanning district, re. 38). . They settled in Eaton, near Bunbury. Stanley died in 1999 at age 84; his wife Patricia died at age 103 in 2011.
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