Eric Gladstone (Old Eric) MACDONALD

MACDONALD, Eric Gladstone

Service Numbers: 6776, WX5646
Enlisted: 22 June 1940
Last Rank: Staff Sergeant
Last Unit: Army Training Units
Born: Granya, Victoria, Australia, 28 July 1904
Home Town: Cranbrook, Cranbrook, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Bank clerk
Died: South Perth, Western Australia, 1 June 1961, aged 56 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia
Cremated, ashed scattered over garden at cemetery.
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

18 Nov 1915: Involvement Gunner, 6776, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: ''
18 Nov 1915: Embarked Gunner, 6776, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne

World War 2 Service

22 Jun 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Staff Sergeant, WX5646
29 Jun 1944: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Staff Sergeant, WX5646, Army Training Units

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Biography contributed by Robert Johnson

Eric was born on 28 July 1897 and served with the Australian Artillery in France from 1915 to 1918.  

On 22 June 1940 he wrote his date of birth as 28 July 1904 on his WW2 enlistment form to appear that he was 35, not 43.  

He served with the 2/16th Battalion and the 7th Division Specialist Groups in the Middle East in 1941, and in Papua with New Guinea Force in 1942 where he contracted malaria.  He returned to Australia in January 1943, served with 21st Australian Infantry Training Battalion and was discharged on 26 June 1944.

Old Eric died in South Perth on 1 June 1961 aged 63.

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