NEWBEY, Thomas Joseph
| Service Number: | WX5251 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Broomehill, Western Australia, 8 October 1914 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Collie, Western Australia, 10 April 1993, aged 78 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia Garden of Remembrance, MC-8-129 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 26 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, WX5251, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, as Acting Corporal, from Fremantle to the Middle East | |
| 22 Jun 1941: | Promoted Corporal, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, rank confirmed | |
| 30 Sep 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, reported missing in action from 27 Jul 1942; interned POW camp 106; embarked for Australia from UK in Oct 1944, arriving in Melbourne Nov 1944; detrained at Perth 22 Nov 1944 | |
| 18 Mar 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, WX5251, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Thomas was the fourth of six children born to Joe and Alice Newbey. He gave his year of birth as 1914 on enlistment, but his birth was registered in 1913 (Katanning district, reg. 283).
Thomas and all three of his brothers served in WWII - two in the RAAF and two in the Army.
Thomas's battalion was captured at Ruin Ridge, El Alamein, in Jul 1942. He was on board the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio when it was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 Aug 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. He was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
Thomas was interned at a POW camp before being returned to Australia in Nov 1944.
The 1940s were a particularly difficult time for the Newbey family. Thomas's father died in Aug 1942 aged 63. His eldest brother Edward, also of the 2/28th Battalion, died of illness in Dec 1942 while a POW, aged 36. His sister Linda got divorced in Apr 1944. His youngest brother Norman was killed in an aircraft accident in the UK in Jul 1944 aged 23. And his mother died in 1947 aged 65 (there was a family dispute over her will that was not resolved until 1949).
On a happier note, Thomas married Mildred May Dyson in 1944 in Perth (reg. 2703). They settled in Collie. She died in 1985 aged 69.