Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Michael Dinnen was born in Glasgow, Scotland on June 15, 1921, the second child of Joseph and Margaret Dinnen, the first being Jim.

At the tender age of two weeks, Tom and his family made the long ocean journey seeking a better life in Sydney, Australia.  In the following years the family grew to six, with the addition of Margaret and Joe.

Life in the “Lucky Country” was not an easy one, with the family losing their matriarch, Margaret to tuberculosis in 1927. They grew together under the guidance of their dad, Joseph.  In 1937 this young family suffered another devastating loss, their father, Joseph, died. 

The children were moved to Newcastle where Tom and Joe were accepted into the Murray Dwyer Home for Boys, Margaret was lodged with a local family, the Lazarus family, and Jim found work at Ryland Brothers, a wire company.  It wasn’t long before Tom could leave the orphanage, gaining employment at Rylands, with the aim of reuniting the family under one roof.

In time Tom moved back to Sydney, with Jim and Joe, but Margaret remained in Newcastle with the Lazarus family.  The boys moved in with a kindly Annandale woman, Mrs Barnett. 

With the declaration of World War 2 in September 1939, Tom was ready to do his duty, being too young was not a deterrent.  On the May 24, 1940 Tom presented himself to the Paddington Recruitment Centre with a “new date of birth”, May 20, 1920, allowing him to engage in overseas service.

Tom was assigned to the 2/17th Battalion, and was proud to have been one of the first 100 recruits.  Within 12 months he found himself on the front lines, defending the essential Libyan harbour town of Tobruk. 

On April 10, 1941 he and his D company were assigned to the outer perimeter posts R31-R35 on the western side of Tobruk.  It wasn’t long until they had their first glimpse of Rommel and his 5th Panzer Regiment as in the distance the desert dust swirled as the 70 or so Panzers made their menacing presence known.

What can only be described as the ultimate test of character ensued over the next three days with the German tanks continually taunting the allied perimeter posts.  On Easter Monday morning the taunting was over as Rommel’s Panzers made several passes by posts R31-R35 and suddenly turned directly towards the men of Don company.  The men lay down allowing the noisy, massive tanks to pass by and over. The pursuing German Infantry followed up and were engaged and destroyed by the Aussies in a protracted fight to the death over many hours, whilst the tank formation was engaged and decimated by the allied artillery, resulting in an allied victory and the first German defeat of World War 2 and of the infamous Blitzkreig. 

On April 28, 1941 Tom developed severe enteritis and was hospitalised, he was later diagnosed with rheumatic fever, as well as mild anxiety disorder.  He remained at the 1st Australian Convalescent Depot for several months and he later returned to duty with the 2/17th Division at the HQ Section.

On May 2, 1942 he boarded the S.S. Rajula bound for Melbourne and later transferred to Queensland, where he served at the Enoggera and Redbank bases.

During his time in Brisbane, Tom met Miss Patricia Pedrazzini, the daughter of the head teacher at Byrnestown State School, near Gayndah.  “Patty Ped” was living in New Farm and working at Paul & Grey, a company which repaired damaged military aircraft.   

After receiving the blessing of Thomas Pedrazzini (Snr), Pat’s father, Tom proposed marriage to Pat in April 1944.  They were married on April 28, 1945 in St Mary’s Catholic Church, Maryborough. 

As the war inevitably reached its final days, Tom secured one long neck bottle of XXXX draught. Each afternoon he and Pat would venture into Queen Street, near the Brisbane GPO awaiting the announcement of Japan’s surrender.  After many evenings trudging home in disappointment with their un-opened bottle of XXXX, the announcement finally came on August 15, 1945 and that well-travelled bottle was put to its intended purpose. 

The war was over, and after some 1179 day of service to the Australian Army, including 658 days outside Australia, Sergeant Dinnen’s service was completed with an Honourable Discharge on October 29, 1945.

Together they raised four children, Paul, Russ, Julie and John, in their family home at Morningside, where they placed great emphasis on the formal and social education of their children.  The family were regular attendees at the local Catholic church with other parishioners becoming their social group.

Tom was an active member of the local community, as a Scout Leader with the Balmoral Scouts, member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Tom was also a member of the organising committee of the 1986 World Reunion of the Rats of Tobruk Association held on the Gold Coast.

Tom was also dealing with significant (war-related) heart issues, with his health always on the minds of his family.   As the years passed, his health continued to decline, resulting in the first of three open-heart surgeries in the 1970’s, the last of which occurred on November 11, 1990.

This time Tom had fought his last battle, and his heart didn’t stand up to the demands of the procedure.  On Armistice Day, 1990 the Dinnen family lost their patriarch, the man they knew had endured so much in life, of which they knew so little detail. 

This was the man who, along with Pat, quietly guided each of the children through the ebbs and flows of life from birth, but even more importantly, Pat had lost her loyal life partner.

On November 1, 2011 Tom was joined in eternal rest by his dear wife Pat, “Together again”.

Lest we forget, Sergeant Thomas Michael Dinnen NX 17247.