TRURAN, Basil Claude
| Service Numbers: | 4016, WX9969 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 December 1940, Claremont, WA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Adelaide, SA, 9 July 1903 |
| Home Town: | Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Mandurah, Western Australia, 1973, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Dec 1915: | Involvement Private, 4016, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ajana embarkation_ship_number: A31 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 4016, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Ajana, Fremantle |
World War 2 Service
| 13 Dec 1940: | Involvement Private, WX9969 | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Claremont, WA | |
| 13 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9969 | |
| 5 Sep 1945: | Discharged |
Help us honour Basil Claude Truran's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Sharyn Roberts
Information supplied by Howard S Truran
Basil was the youngest son and the last to sign up for the Great War. He joined his 3 brothers in Cairo for Christmas in 1915 following the evacuation of troops from Gallipoli. Basil spent most of his service time in France. He suffered a minor injury in the field and was ill during his time at the Front, each requiring periods of hospitalisation. The last in February 1919 was for a severe infection to his hand. He was discharged on 24 July 1919.
Basil enlisted again in 1939 at the age of 42 (he put his age down). He was unmarried. He served campaigns in the Middle East at Tobruk (with the Rats of Tobruk) and El Alamein. He went on to serve in the South West Pacific and the New Guinea campaigns. He served through to the end of the war based in Sydney where he remained and worked in the city for some time.
In 1960 at the age of 63 he departed for London where he worked for some years . During this time he returned to the battefields of France and Belgium riding a bicyce through villages and spending time with the local people. He returned to Fremantle in 1972, still a bachelor, where he finally settled. One year later he died quietly in his sleep at the home of his sister Doris (Dolly) in Mandurah (WA), aged 76 years.
Basil never claimed any of his service medals. He only ever wore a sprig of rosemary in ANZAC Day.
I am guardian of fourteen service medals awarded to Basil and my Father and also Basil's slouch hat from WW2.Tthese will be passed on to my daughter Yolande who served six years in the Army Reserve from 1994 to 2000.
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