Lawrence Leonard (Laurie) STORR

STORR, Lawrence Leonard

Service Number: WX11707
Enlisted: 15 April 1941, Claremont, WA
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion
Born: Unley, South Australia, 19 October 1908
Home Town: Yarloop, Harvey, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Stansbury, South Australia, December 1985, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Stansbury Cemetery, S.A.
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

15 Apr 1941: Involvement Private, WX11707, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion
15 Apr 1941: Enlisted Claremont, WA
15 Apr 1941: Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), WX11707, 2nd/16th Infantry Battalion, Middle East / Mediterranean Theatre, Initially sent as reinforcement
15 Apr 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX11707
1 Oct 1941: Transferred Australian Army (Post WW2), 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion
17 Dec 1944: Discharged Private, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion

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Biography contributed by ROBIN STORR

BIOGRAPHY AND STORIES OF LL STORR, WX11707.

Laurence Leonard Storr (name was misspelt to Lawrence by family and/or Department of Veteran Affairs?) was born at home at Unley, in Adelaide South Australia on the 19th October 1908 to parents Francis Edwin and Ethel May (nee Bristow) Storr.  Edwin Storr, his son Francis Edwin and grandson Frank Bristow Storr owned a tailor shop near Gawler Place and later King William Street in Adelaide.

Laurence (Laurie) moved to the Adelaide suburb of Grange with his family at age 4.  His mother died when he was only 11 years old.  He worked in the Holden (later GMH) drawing office for 3 years from 1925, then left home at 20 years of age to live in the South West of Western Australia.  His home for the next 12 years was the Road Board road camps and timber mills in the 'big timber' country. During this time of the depression he often survived in the forests by hunting and trapping possums for skins, and fishing.

He joined the AIF at Yarloop, WA on the 15th April, 1941.  His initial posting was with the reinforcements for the 2nd/16th Battalion in Palestine.  However in late 1941 he was transferred to 2nd/11th Battalion in Syria to reinforce them as they had suffered significant losses fighting in Crete.

Exhaustion caused him to fall asleep on a sheet of galvanized iron in the Syrian hills.  It was winter with cold and snow.  He woke partly frozen and contracted Rheumatic Fever.  Following time in a Scottish hospital in Syria, he worked for several months in the 19th Brigade office in Palastine before transferring to the 2nd/28th Battalion in July 1942.  The 2nd /28th travelled to El Alamain in Egypt where they attacked 'Ruin Ridge', with heavy losses and many taken as POW's.  They were withdrawn and rebuilt over following weeks and back to the front line by September.  By late October and early November they had been involved in a great but 'bloody' success with the enemy forces in retreat.

At times on the fighting lines, with shells and bullets landing all around him, Laurie felt Gods presence and protection.

A close mate, George Barns had been shot in the gut and almost disembowelled, he recovered and with Laurie, went on to Papua New Guinea (PNG).  Another mate, Len Sydneham, was badly hurt with shattered legs and arms but he too survived, later to become a Catholic Missionary 'Father Len', in the Solomon Islands.

In February 1943, the 2nd/28th returned to Fremantle, Australia aboard the troop ship the 'Queen Mary'.  They were reorganised for jungle operations, specifically the amphibious landing at Red Beach, Lae, PNG in early September.

Laurie contracted Scrub Typhus and Malaria in PNG.  His transfer to a hospital in Australia was deferred several times due to the low liklihood of his survival and the need to transfer others that were less serious.  He was finally transferred to a hospital in Queensland and later discharged in South Australia following a long trying time where his 'papers' were lost.  Laurie felt that he was spared for a purpose.

He married Dorothy Lorna Battersby of Terowie, South Australia.  Although Laurie suffered some health and PTSD symptoms, they had a good life raising a family at Gawler then Corny Point on Yorke Peninsula, where he was a fisherman, shop owner and Post Office Manager for over 20 years.

Laurie died in December 1985 aged 77 and is buried with Dorothy at Stansbury, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia.

 

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