MCWILLIAMS, John Ravenscroft
| Service Number: | WX10072 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 December 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Belfast, Ireland, 30 September 1913 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | meter reader |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 19 November 1980, aged 67 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park, Padbury, Western Australia Acacia Court, 1017 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 13 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX10072 | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1942: | Imprisoned Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, missing in action from 27 Jul 1942; interned Camp 29, then Camp 82, returned to Camp 29 then transfered from Italy to Stalag 18A; deplaned in UK May 1945; returned to Australia Jul 1945 | |
| 5 Sep 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX10072 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
John gave his year of birth as 1913 on his enlistment, which was the same year of birth as his brother Robert, who also enlisted (WX11867).
John was actually born c1910, to parents Robert and Mary. In the 1911 Census, he was an infant living in Belfast with his mother Mary (21) and 1-year-old sister Phoebe.
Mary and her four children - Phoebe (15), John (14), Robert (11) and Elizabeth (7) - were assisted migrants, arriving in Albany WA in 1925 aboard Demosthenes, headed for 104 Group Settlement in Northcliffe.
John enlisted in Dec 1940. Not long before he embarked for the Middle East in Jul 1941, he married Winifred 'Wynne' BROWNLEE in Perth.
He was a POW for almost three years and 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. John was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
According to a 1945 newspaper report, he escaped from a German POW camp on 7 May 1945, the day before VE Day. He had previously escaped from a camp near Salzburg on 22 Feb, spending almost a week in the snow before being recaptured. See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59338045.
John and Wynne lived in Queens Park WA. He died in 1980 at age 70 at Hollywood Repatriation Hospital in Perth WA.