Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

SEDGWICK, Dudley. Late VX43003 Private, 2/23 Infantry Battalion.
Dudley Sedgwick was born on the 24 September 1919 in Hamilton, Victoria. The son of Elizabeth Mary Whyte (1895-1975) and Charles George Sedgwick (1889-1934) - a carpenter and a WWI Veteran.
A 20 year old Dudley was living in Orford and working as a farm hand when he enlisted on the 14 June 1940. Assigned to the 2/23 Battalion, he shipped out and was sent to the Middle East, where he landed on the 17 December 1940. A little over five months later, Sedgwick found himself captured during the siege of Tobruk on the 19 May 1941. Officially reported as a prisoner of war, Dudley found himself in POW camps in Italy and later Germany (Held in Benghasi, Gruppignano, Campo 57 & 106 then Stalag IVB, IVF & Stalag IVG).
Post war, Sedgwick would give an affidavit stating that he was a witness to the execution of his hut mate (NX16597) John Ernest Laws, 2/17th Battalion, while at a work camp in Vercelli, Italy. He stated that in an attempt by a sentry to get back in favour with his superiors after being caught sleeping at his post, he orchestrated a plan in which he promised Laws extra bread if he could meet him. Laws then went to meet the guard and was promptly shot by him, and arranged to look like the guard had successfully stopped Laws from escaping.
Recovered by allied forces near wars end in late April 1945, he arrived back in Australia that October.
Sedgwick was discharged on the 7 January 1946, having spent most of his service in POW camps.
Dudley Sedgwick died in North Melbourne on the 14 April 1977. At the time of his death, the 56 year old was unemployed, divorced and of no fixed place of abode.
Dudley's body remained unclaimed, and he was buried in June 1977 in an unmarked public grave at Springvale Botanical Cemetery. A death certificate was not filed until later that month.