Douglas Seymour STEVENS

Douglas Seymour STEVENS Update Details

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STEVENS, Douglas Seymour

Service Numbers:	N217547, NX48879
Enlisted:	14 May 1941
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	8th Division Signals
Born:	Gormanston, Tasmania, Australia, 16 February 1920
Home Town:	Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Dry Cleaner
Died:	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 October 1987, aged 67 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne
Memorials:	Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial

World War 2 Service

14 May 1941:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Signaller, N217547, Signals Training Battalion
2 Oct 1941:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Signaller, N217547, Signals Training Battalion
7 Oct 1941:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX48879, 8th Division Signals
10 Jan 1942:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX48879, 8th Division Signals, embarked Sydney for Singapore on board the Batavia
11 May 1943:	Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, confirmed PoW Japanese, held in Thailand; PoW No: 2507 13 April 1942: Reported Missing
18 Oct 1945:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX48879, 8th Division Signals, embarked Singapore for Melbourne
18 Feb 1946:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX48879, 8th Division Signals

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Douglas Seymour Stevens (Service No:NX48879) initially served in the ACMF (Signaller; Service No:N217547) from 14 May 1941 to 2 October 1941, and was attached to 2 Division Signals when he Discharged to enlist in the AIF on 7 October 1941. Private Stevens was attached to 8 Corps of Signals when he embarked with his Unit from Sydney for Singapore on board the Batavia on 10 January 1942. Private Stevens was in Singapore when he was reported Missing on 13 April 1942, and confirmed as a PoW of the Japanese (PoW No:2507) held in Thailand on 11 May 1943. Recovered from the Japanese in 1945, Private Stevens embarked from Singapore for Melbourne on 18 October 1945 and was attached to 8 Corps of Signals at Discharge on 18 February 1946.

Born in Gormanston, Tasmania in 1921, Douglas was eldest of three children of James (Les) Leslie Douglas Stevens (b1888 in Hotham, Victoria) and Linda Isabelle Elkin (b1920 at Battery Point, Tasmania). Les was a Grocer's Assistant in Queenstown, Tasmania in 1914 when he enlisted in the AIF (Private, 3rd Light Horse Regiment) and following his Discharge, was working as a Grocer in Gormanton when he and Linda married in 1920 in Hobart. They settled in Gormanton where they raised their family and Les worked for Mt Lyall Mining and Railway Coy as a Shop Hand, Labourer and Underground Tally Clerk. The family moved to Melbourne in July 1934 where Les worked as a Tally Clerk for Wallam East Saw Mill. Following Les' death in 1937, Linda remarried.

Douglas worked in Melbourne as a Dry Cleaner before enlisting in the Army in Sydney, NSW. Following his Discharge, Douglas was in Melbourne in 1947 when he married Dorothy Ruby Thomas (b1925 in Melbourne, Victoria). Douglas and Dorothy settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Douglas worked as a Clerk and a Pleater. Douglas died in 1987 and Dorothy in 2018.

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