GILL, Richard
| Service Number: | VX56017 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 May 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/2nd Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Colac, Victoria, Australia, 14 November 1919 |
| Home Town: | Tomahawk Creek, Corangamite, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Irrewillipe East State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Timber Worker |
| Died: | Sale, Victoria, Australia, 24 August 1984, aged 64 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Colac General Cemetery, Victoria Plot: CLC-LAWN-C08-808-47. Memorial ID: #156583286 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 16 May 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX56017, 2nd/2nd Pioneer Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX56017, 2nd/2nd Pioneer Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Ian Fox
Written parental consent was required for anyone enlisting in the Australian Military in WW2 who was under the age of 21. This may have been why Richard lied about his age being 21 when he was in fact only 17 years old.
Following the completion of the fighting in Syria, the 2/2nd Pioneers landed in Java in late Feb 1942 and joined 'Blackforce'. They took part in a brief, but bitter engagement before being ordered to surrender.
A large number of the 2/2nd personnel were captured – over 800 men – of whom 258 later died in captivity. Dispatched across south-east Asia, the men were used as forced labour on the Burma–Thailand railway, and in camps on Java and Borneo.
Richard spent three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese on the Burma Railway and the coal mines in Japan.
[Source: Colac Family History Project/WW2 Honour Roll]
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