PATERSON, James Crombie
| Service Number: | WX6813 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | South Perth, Western Australia, 22 April 1918 |
| Home Town: | Coolup, Murray, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Pinjarra, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Farm Labourer |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 19 July 2012, aged 94 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia Crematorium Rose Gardens, Garden H, 149 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 20 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX6813, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX6813, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, from Fremantle; disembarked in Palestine 2 Feb 1941; qualified as signaller | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, reported missing in action 27 Jul 1942; officially reported POW 30 Sep 1942; deplaned in UK as recovered POW 13 Jun 1945 | |
| 3 Jul 1945: | Embarked from UK for return to Australia; disembarked in Sydney NSW 8 Aug 1945; returned to WA 18 Aug 1945; hospitalised for rehab treatment 7 Sep 1945 | |
| 1 Oct 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX6813, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour James Crombie Paterson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
James, known as Jim, was the only son of Frank Cecil Pryde PATERSON and Elizabeth Jane MURRAY. Jim had three younger sisters. The family lived on a farm in Pinjarra named Waralee, later moving to Coolup.
Jim enlisted in 1940 and trained at Melville Training Depot in Perth. Only a couple of months after joining the 2/28th Battalion, he was hospitalised with measles. He rejoined the unit in Northam almost two weeks later.
After further training in Palestine, Jim qualified as a signaller. His battalion were captured at Ruin Ridge, El Alamein.
Jim was 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. They were all interned in various POW camps.
Jim and five others escaped from POW camp Maribor, Yugoslavia, on 17 Dec 1944. They were hidden by a family nearby until New Year's Eve, when guides delivered them into the care of a battalion of resistance fighters known as Tito's Partisans, in Slovenia. They were joined over the next couple of weeks by another 30 escaped POWs. Many were recaptured in a German ambush on 24 Jan 1945 near Panece, but Jim and one other POW escaped (Ronald Wallace, a New Zealander).
Jim remained hidden with the help of local families in the Lisca region. In May 1945, he obtained a rail pass to leave the country, arriving in Triest on 27 May. He eventually made it back to Australia.
Jim married Enid Patricia WISHART in Perth in 1946 (reg. 2347).
In 1988, Jim was awarded the Italy Star in recognition of his involvement with Yugoslav partisans following his escape.
Jim died in 2012 aged 94; his wife Enid predeceased him by 13 years.
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