TERRELL, Norman
| Service Number: | WX14583 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 June 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bridgetown, Western Australia, 12 August 1921 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Gardener |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 21 January 1987, aged 65 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 25 Jun 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX14583 | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Nov 1941: | Embarked 1st Training Battalion (AIF), from Fremantle; disembarked in the Middle East on 24 Nov 1941 | |
| 9 Dec 1941: | Transferred 24th Infantry Battalion | |
| 26 Apr 1942: | Transferred 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
| 27 Jul 1942: | Imprisoned El Alamein, missing believed POW; officially reported POW on 28 Oct 1942 | |
| 13 Oct 1944: | Embarked from UK to Australia (ex Italy); disembarked in Melbourne 17 Nov 1944; by train to Perth the following day, arriving 22 Nov 1944 | |
| 11 Aug 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX14583 |
Help us honour Norman Terrell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Norman was born as Norman Charles in 1922 to Sydney Harold TERRELL and Elizabeth WHITRICK. His parents had married in England in 1918 while Sydney was serving in the AIF. They left England c1920, initially settling in the south west of Western Australia.
Norman was the third of five children born between 1918 and 1926. His mother died in 1929 at age 39, soon after the birth of a stillborn daughter.
He enlisted in June 1941, giving his year of birth as 1921. Both his brothers - Sydney and Albert - also enlisted, although Albert was not accepted due to a weak heart (he died at age 22 in Mount Magnet Hospital in 1943).
Norman was captured at El Alamein when surrounded by German tanks, and ordered to surrender by the commanding officer. 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. He survived the incident, along with 121 other Australian POWs.
Despite being a Rat of Tobruk, Norman is not included in the Roll of Honour of Australian Rats.
Norman died in 1987 at age 64, late of Mundijong, Western Australia. No known marriage or children.
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