Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Basil Norris (Service No:SX17869) enlisted in the AIF on 7 March 1942 and was attached to 4 MD Signals Gawler and 6 Motor Brigade. Private Norris served with 2/7 Field Ambulance in Darwin NT (10 June 1942 to 21 June 1943) and New Guinea (19 November 1944 - 27 July 1945), and was attached to 2/7 Field Ambulance at Discharge in Sydney NSW on 12 December 1945.

Basil - born Charlie Newman and adopted as a toddler following the deaths of both parents - was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1913, youngest of six children of John Charles Newman (b1848 in Adelaide, South Australia) and his second wife, Gertrude Furber (b1867 in Staffordshir,e England) - Gertrude immigrated in 1876, arriving in Adelaide on board the Clyde. John had ten children with his first wife, and was a Cabinetmaker and Undertaker in 1901 when he and Gertrude married in Adelaide, where they settled and raised their family until their deaths - Gertrude in 1914 and John in 1916.

Basil completed his studies at the Adelaide Arts and Crafts School, and was a Salesman in Adelaide in 1939 when he married Hilda Mary Bevege (b1913 in St Leonards, NSW) - Hilda was a Commercial Artist. Following Basil's enlistment in the Army, Hilda settled in Sydney, NSW and Basil joined her there at Discharge in 1945. Basil and Hilda lived in Sydney, where Basil was a Salesman, and in the 1960s he and Hilda were Restaurant Proprietors. The couple moved to Victor Harbour in South Australia in the late 1960s, where Hilda died in 1978. Basil was a well known Artist, exhibiting prolifically in South Australia on his return. Basil died in Adelaide in 2001.