JACOBS, Frederick Charles
| Service Number: | WX2915 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 May 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Taunton, Somerset, England, 27 December 1917 |
| Home Town: | Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Fremantle Boys’ School, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Tractor Driver |
| Died: | Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, 4 September 2012, aged 94 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Rockhampton Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Qld |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 20 May 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Fremantle for Middle East | |
| 24 Mar 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Suez for Brisbane per HMAT Kosiosco | |
| 6 Aug 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Brisbane for Port Moresby | |
| 15 Jan 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Port Moresby for Cairns per Cleveland Abbe | |
| 2 Aug 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Townsville for Port Moresby per Canberra | |
| 4 Sep 1943: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion | |
| 28 Feb 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Port Moresby for Townsville per Canberra | |
| 23 Apr 1945: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion | |
| 2 Jun 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Townsville for Morotai per General Anderson | |
| 19 Jul 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Morotai for Balikapan per LST 395 | |
| 13 Nov 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, embarked Balikapan for Fremantle per Cheshire | |
| 22 Nov 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX2915, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Sergeant Frederick Charles Jacobs (Service No:WX2915) enlisted in the Army on 20 May 1940 as a Private attached to 2/16th Infantry Battalion. Private Jacobs served in the Middle East (25 October 1940 - 24 March 1942) and in New Guinea (6 August 1942 - 15 January 1943 and 2 August 1943 - 28 February 1944) - where he was promoted to Corporal on 5 September 1943. Corporal Jacobs then served in Borneo (Morotai and Balikapan) from 28 February 1944 to 13 November 1945). Promoted to Sergeant on 23 April 1945, he was atatched to 2/16th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 22 November 1945.
Born in 1917 in Monmouthshire Wales, Fred was the eldest of four children of Charles Jacobs (b1893 in Somerset, England) and Gladys Mary Price (nee Blake; b1891 in Glamorganshire, Wales). Charles (a Soldier) and Gladys (a Widow with two young sons) married in 1917 in Monmouthshire, Wales. Charles served in WWI (Private; Regimental No:981) and was a General Labourer in Monmouthsire, Wales when he enlisted in the British Army. Gladys' first husband was KiA in France. Following their marriage, Charles and Gladys lived in Wales and Somerset where Charles was a Farm Labourer. In 1923 they immigrated with four children under the Western Australian Group Settlement Scheme (with assisted passage and land to farm at the Peel Estuary in WA). The family arrived in Albany WA in 1923, and settled at the Peel Estate where Charles was a Settler/Farmer - conditions were harsh, and the family suffered financial and social hardships. By 1925 Charles and Gladys had moved their family to Fremantle where Charles worked as a Miner, General Labourer and Carpenter.
Fred attended Fremantle Boys' School, and was working as a Tractor Driver in Fremantle when he enlisted in 1940. Following his Discharge in 1945, Fred was in Maroochydore QLD in 1946 when he married Mary Elizabeth Watson (b1906 in England) - Mary had immigrated with her mother in 1912 and was working in Maroochydore as a Pharmaceutical Chemist. Fred and Mary settled in Maroochydore, where Fred worked as a Sales Assistant and Manager, and Mary as a Pharmaceutical Chemist. The couple retired to Buderim, QLD and following Mary's death in 1999, Fred remarried to Avian Leith Thomasson (nee Croker;b1928 in Charleville, QLD). Fred and Avian settled in Rockhampton, where they both died in 2012 - Avian in April and Fred in September.
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