Victor Basil HARRIS

HARRIS, Victor Basil

Service Numbers: SX30513, S26471
Enlisted: 11 December 1942, Moorefield, New South Wales
Last Rank: Gunner
Last Unit: 108 LAA / later 101 Composite Anti Aircraft Regiment
Born: Adelaide, South Australia, 1 April 1920
Home Town: Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Painter and Decorator
Died: Accidental (Injuries), Berry Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, 24 August 1944, aged 24 years
Cemetery: Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT
Ref: D.B.8, Adelaide River War Cemetery, Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia
Memorials: Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 2 Service

11 Dec 1942: Enlisted Private, SX30513, Moorefield, New South Wales
11 Dec 1942: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, SX30513
12 Dec 1942: Involvement S26471
24 Aug 1944: Involvement Gunner, SX30513, 108 LAA / later 101 Composite Anti Aircraft Regiment
Date unknown: Involvement

Victor Basil Harris

Victor Basil Harris, SX30513, was born on April 1, 1920 in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of John & Eva Harris. He enlisted on December 11, 1942, motivated by the war in the Pacific, particularly the air raids on Darwin. Following training in Moorfield, NSW, he eventually was posted as a Gunner with the 101 Anti Aircraft Regiment in Darwin, Northern Territory.
Vic died while recuperating from a broken arm at the Berry Springs rest camp. He'd acquired the break while unloading 44 gallon drums from a truck in a creek bed, and when the bone wasn't knitting it was decided that he should be sent home to Adelaide to assist his recovery.
On the day he passed, two weeks before he was due to head home, they'd been blasting latrine pits at the camp and 2 pits had been set with explosives that had failed to explode. The force of a third blast igniting set off the other two pits and the sound must've been alarming. Vic rose from the camp stretcher he was reading on, to be struck in the chest by flying debris.
The chest wound was extensive, and despite their best efforts, he passed away enroute to the 129th Army General Hospital, listing broken ribs and haemo pericardium as the cause of death.
Vic was survived by his wife, Audrey, and daughter Wendy.

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