POTTER, Allan Keith
| Service Number: | WX6879 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Warrant Officer Class 2 |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 June 1920 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 5 February 2015, aged 94 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 22 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Warrant Officer Class 2, WX6879 | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug 1940: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, Acting Corporal | |
| 18 Aug 1940: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Sergeant, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, Acting Sergeant | |
| 3 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, from Fremantle; disembarked 2 Feb 1941 Middle East; acting rank of sergeant confirmed | |
| 13 Sep 1941: | Wounded Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, GSW left temple; evacuated to Australian General Hospital 14 Sep 1941 then to British General Hospital; back to Australian General Hospital 19 Sep 1941; taken on strength from 18 Oct 1941 | |
| 1 Apr 1942: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Warrant Officer Class 2, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, Acting Warrant Officer II; evacuated to NZ General Hospital (intestinal worms) 24 Jun 1942; reverted to Sergeant; rejoined unit 4 Jul 1942; rank of Warrant Officer II confirmed 4 Jul 1942 | |
| 30 Sep 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, missing in action 27 Jul 1942; officially reported POW 30 Sep 1942; interned at various camps; deplaned in UK as recovered POW 23 May 1945 | |
| 3 Jul 1945: | Embarked in UK per B2; disembarked Sydney 8 Aug 1945; to WA for rehabilitation treatment 14 Aug 1945 | |
| 1 Oct 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Warrant Officer Class 2, WX6879 |
Help us honour Allan Keith Potter's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Allan was known by his middle name, Keith. He was the youngest of three children born to William Lyne POTTER and Florence Gertrude DANIELS. His enlistment gives his year of birth as 1920, but his birth was registered in South Melbourne in 1922 (reg. 24234). His brother William Lyne (PM2300) was born in April 1920.
His parents married in London in 1918 and emigrated to Victoria, before moving to Western Australia. They divorced in 1926 and both remarried. William snr had another four sons, half-brothers to Keith.
Keith was captured at Ruin Ridge, El Alamein during a midnight attack on 26-27 Jul 1942. Keith stated that support was expected at 0330 hours but did not arrive: "Without any support whatsoever, our isolated and surrounded Bat. kept fighting until 1100 hrs when its fire became ineffective against tanks which were moving into the Bat. area. Threatened at point blank range by 2 pounder firing German tanks we were compelled to surrender."
Keith was initially interned at Benghazi. He was a POW 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. Keith was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He was held briefly at Patras, Greece, before being transfered to Bari, Italy, for the month of Sep 1942, then to Udine for 12 months. Keith was then moved to Stalag XVIII-A in Spittal until May 1945. He described the conditions at Statag as disgusting: primitive sanitation, insufficient light, and overcrowded, with insufficient rations and negligible recreational facilities.
Keith stated that he remained in the shorts and shirt he was wearing when captured until Oct 1942. He worked at the Red Cross food parcel store, receiving 70 pfennigs a day.
His service record includes an undated handwritten letter home, signed 'Your loving son Keith'. In part, it reads: 'The weather has been very wet during last week with terrific thunderstorms so haven't been doing much exercise except boxing. Read Tom Sawyer Huck Finn during week & enjoyed it immensely. Also read Personal Salesmanship and in the middle of Modern Commerce. Am also reading a good novel - "School for Eternity" can now speak short sentences in Italian but have a lot to learn yet. Food parcels still arriving - thank goodness.'
Keith finally made it back to WA in Aug 1945. He married Joan Susanne GUILDER in Perth in 1951 (reg. 2349) and they had two children. Keith died in 2015, aged 92, and Joan died in 2017, aged 88.