MELDRUM, Henry Robert
| Service Number: | WX11439 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 April 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Fremantle, Western Australia, 25 March 1919 |
| Home Town: | Katanning, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Shop Assistant |
| Died: | Katanning, Western Australia, 2 January 1979, aged 59 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Katanning Cemetery, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 5 Apr 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX11439 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX11439 |
Help us honour Henry Robert Meldrum's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Henry, known as Harry, was the youngest son of John and Elizabeth, of Katanning. Their firstborn had died in infancy, and they went on to have three daughters and three sons.
Harry's mother Elizabeth died in 1935 aged 56 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/212736355).
Harry enlisted in Apr 1941; his brother George enlisted in July the following year (WX29975). It was shortly after this that Harry was reported missing in action - he had been captured at El Alamein and was held as a POW for just over two years.
Harry 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. Harry was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
He arrived back in WA in Nov 1944, experiencing deafness and injuries to his feet. In 1949, he married Hilda Vera STONESTREET in Perth. Harry died in 1979 aged 59. His only child, a son named Kerry Alex, died in 1989 aged 38. Harry is interred at Katanning Cemetery, along with his son, father, mother, brother, and sister-in-law. Hilda did not remarry and died in Jul 2022, at age 98.