MORGAN, William Ronald
| Service Number: | WX7965 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 August 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Cornwall, England, 26 June 1919 |
| Home Town: | Kellerberrin, Kellerberrin, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | farm hand |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 21 March 1988, aged 68 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia Salvation Army area, MON JJ/53 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 13 Aug 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX7965 | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Sep 1942: | Imprisoned Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, captured 26/27 Jul 1942 at El Alamein; interned Camp 85 and moved between Benghazi, Brindisi, Gruppignano (Bari), Udine (57) and Vercelli (106); returned to Australia via UK Nov 1944 | |
| 20 Mar 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX7965 |
Help us honour William Ronald Morgan's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
William was the eldest son of William and Jane and one of four children. His birth was registered in the third quarter of 1920, although he gave his year of birth as 1919 when he enlisted in Aug 1940.
William arrived in the Middle East in Jul 1941. His battalion was captured at Ruin Ridge, El Alamein, and initially held in North Africa. William 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. William was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He was held as a POW for about a year and was moved between camps. While at Gruppignano (Udine) in 1942, he helped to dig a tunnel. Nineteen men escaped, "but the tunnel was discovered before my time came".
William finally did escape from Vercelli in Sep 1943. He provided details in his POW report: "I was working camp 106 Vercelli, at the time of the Armistice. The Italian Officer in charge of the camp would not let us out. We went first to the farm where we had been working, obtained civilian clothes and then walked for three days until we came to Pastua, North of Milan. Here we joined a guerilla band but after 12 days decided to make for Switzerland. We kept off the roads and made North, enquiring our way as we went. With the assistance of an Italian smuggler we made our way over Mount Moro. There were 8 of us."
William arrived back in Australia in Nov 1944. In 1946, he married divorcee Hazel Muriel BROWN, formerly ROYLE, in Perth (reg. 1206). He died in 1988 aged 67.