MCNAMARA, John Joseph
| Service Number: | WX2622 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Moora, Western Australia, 31 July 1909 |
| Home Town: | Dandaragan, Dandaragan, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | mail driver |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 4 September 2007, aged 98 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia Lance Howard Memorial Gardens, Wall 4/56, aged 97 |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 19 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX2622 | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1942: | Imprisoned Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, missing in action from 27 Jul 1942; interned Camp 29, then transfered to Stalag 18A, repatriated to UK Feb 1945, returned to Australia Apr 1945 | |
| 23 Aug 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX2622, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour John Joseph McNamara's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
John was the sixth of seven children born to William and Ellen, who married in Guildford in 1894. That same year, his father set up a farm just north of Dandaragan, a Wheatbelt town near Moora WA. The farm was named Badgingarra, a local Aboriginal word for the area (the current townsite of the same name was not settled until the 1950s).
William died in 1914 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203560810) and Ellen died in 1939 (see obituary, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251352510).
John enlisted the following year, giving his eldest brother William as his next of kin. He gave his birthdate as Jul 1909, but his birth was registered in 1910 (Moora, reg. 23).
John embarked for the Middle East in Jan 1941. He was a POW for almost three years, and 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. He was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident.
John married divorcee Lorien Janyce WESTOVER in Perth in 1947. He married a second time in 1955 to Ida Mary KROENERT. John lived to the age of 97.
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