MACKRILL, Joseph
| Service Number: | DX21 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 October 1939, Darwin, NT |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, 5 July 1918 |
| Home Town: | Darwin, Darwin, Northern Territory |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer / Truck Driver |
| Died: | Injuries, New Guinea, 7 September 1943, aged 25 years |
| Cemetery: |
Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea CWGC Grave No: Section C. Plot 1. Row A. Grave 14. Inscription: "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Darwin War Memorial, East Point Memorial Wall |
World War 2 Service
| 20 Oct 1939: | Enlisted Private, DX21, Darwin, NT | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1939: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, DX21 | |
| 18 May 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, DX21, 2nd/3rd Field Regiment, embarked Sydney for Gourock Scotland on board HT XI | |
| 5 Jan 1941: | Embarked Private, DX21, 2nd/3rd Field Regiment, embarked Glasgow, Scotland for Middle East | |
| 30 May 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, DX21, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion, embarked Brisbane for Port Moresby | |
| 5 Jan 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, DX21, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion, embarked Port Moresby for Brisbane | |
| 20 Aug 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, DX21, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion, embarked Townsville for Port Moresby on board the Canberra | |
| 7 Sep 1943: | Involvement Private, DX21, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion, New Guinea - Huon Peninsula / Markham and Ramu Valley /Finisterre Ranges Campaigns |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private Joseph Mackrill (Service No:DX21) initially enlisted in the Militia in Darwin on 13 September 1939, and was a Private (Service No:561321) atttched to NT Field Section RAE when he Discharged to transfer to the AIF on 20 October 1939. Private Mackrill served with 2/3 Field Regiment in Scotland (18 May 1940 - 5 January 1941), and in the Middle East and New Guiea with 2/33 Infantry Battalion. Private Mackrill was killed (died from injuries - burns) on 7 September 1943 at Jackson's Airfield in New Guinea when USAF Liberator Bomber (Pride of the Cornhuskers) crashed into a convoy of trucks carrying men of the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion - sixty men were killed or mortally wounded and a further ninety were injured. 'Relatives were not told about the crash until after the Japanese surrender' (2nd/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion AIF).
Youngest of ten children, Joe was born in Bundaberg, QLD in 1918 to George Stephenson Mackrill (b1871 in Lincolnshire, England) and Harriet Martha Smith (b1876 in Leicestershire, England). George (a Labourer) and Harriet married in Addingham, Yorkshire in 1896. The couple lived in Yorkshire - where George was a Waterside Worker and Platelayer - until 1908, when they immigrated with their five children, arriving in Brisbane QLD on board the Omrah. George and Harriet settled at Kalkie via Bundaberg, where they raised their family and George was a Sugar Cane Farmer until his death in 1919.
Before enlisting in the Army, Joe worked in Bundaberg and the Northern Territory as a Labourer and Truck Driver.
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