Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born in Bunbeg, a small village in County Donegal, Ireland on the 5th February 1911, Peter was the second son of Mr and Mrs C. Coll, who eventually moved to Philadelphia, America.
Little was known of Peter’s early life until after the war. He worked as a rigger, using heavy cranes to move machinery and equipment at Whyalla where BHP and the rapidly expanding Whyalla Shipworks required many employees. However, with the outbreak of WWII, volunteer enlistees were sought in country areas, aiming for young, fit, preferably single young men. 30-year-old Peter enlisted on the 20th March ’41. While this decimated the workforce, BHP particularly attempted to document all their workers who had enlisted. Perhaps because of the huge number, Peter’s name did not appear, either in the local newspaper or on the Memorial Gates of the oval after the war.
With no relatives in Australia, Peter gave his contact as Dorothy Cash (whom he later married at the end of the war), living in Gladesville NSW.
He was allocated to the reinforcements for the 2/48th Battalion, leaving for the Middle East in April ’41 and arriving in May to attend intensive training at Amiriya Staging Camp. The dust, heat, flies and challenging conditions caused dysentery and hospitalisation in August. Soon after, Peter became one of the legendary Rats of Tobruk. Originally ‘living like rats’ was designed to be a derogatory term to destroy morale and lead to surrender, it had the opposite effect as the soldiers dug in to the sand and challenging terrain.
About the 12th July ’42 Peter was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his shoulder muscle. At the time his battalion was in the frenetic battle for Tel El Eisa. A challenging aspect of the enemy counter-attack was of tanks passing through artillery fire, ploughing through the dust, crossing and re-crossing the slit tranches, causing many to be wounded.
While recovering Peter attended Machine Gun school, eventually returning to his battalion at the end of August. However, within days he was again wounded in action for the second time, in October 13/10/42 with a gunshot wound to his right cheek and a sprained ankle. He was fortunate to be evacuated for treatment. The 2/48th was involved in fierce, unrelenting fighting in October. John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ described how ‘The attack continued, however, without pause…it was only after hard fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides, that they were able to consolidate on their objective. The troops had never been more tired. The 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest; from first light until nine o’clock the enemy turned all their fury on the Trig area, with particularly heavy fire on 29 itself, hiding the position in a cloud of dust and smoke.’ A comment was later made about the heavy casualties. Glenn also explained they were ‘running into particularly stiff opposition to the west of the Trig point. Gradually the platoon, small in number to start with, was being whittled away and those remaining were being forced to go to ground.’

The November issue of the Advertiser listed those injured, with fellow 2/48th members being Wounded In Action SX7825 Cpl. William O. Braund, Maitland. SX11862 Pte. Peter Coll, Gladeville. NSW. SX7014 Cpl Ronald J. Hanson, Croydon. SX7276 CpL Stephen. B. Lister, Birkenhead SX8871 Pte. Stewart A. Martin. Sandllands. SX13743 Pte. William. P. Martin. Largs Bay SX5294 SX12804 Pte. David. S. Richards, Wokurna. SX11155 Pte. Ernest W. Starkey. Port LincoIn. SX7271 Pte. Fauntal. R. Whitford. Middleton. Also on the Seriously ill list were SX7840 Pte Claude F. Hay Adelaide and Wounded In Action And Placed On Dangerously III list SX7015 Pte. Bernard O. Hoffman, Walkerville.
In the desert conditions, Peter endured a bout of dysentery. For him and the members of the 2/48th, it was well time to return to Australia via Melbourne. To assist his recovery, Peter spent time in both the Lady Wakehurst and Glen Mervyn Convalescent Homes. He was eventually classified as medically unfit for service. Following his discharge on the 19th October ‘43, Peter returned to New South Wales where he announced his engagement to Dorothea Mary Cash of Gladesville in March ’46 with the two welcoming their son, Stevan Michael in November ‘47. Peter continued to work on the wharf.
In May ’44, interest turned to Australian men who had fought for democracy in Spain in the International Brigade. The Sydney Tribune listed seven men, including Peter, who ‘fought and bled at Teruel, Madrid, Belchite, in the advance over the Ebro and in the bitter retreat through Aragon and Catalonia.’ In that article Peter was incorrectly listed as the ‘winner of the DFC at El Alamein’ It is possible that his actions may have been witnessed but the paperwork not submitted because of the war conditions. Again in May ’46, an article appeared in the Sydney Tribune, focusing on Australians who had fought fascism in Spain. Peter was again named as enlisting ‘in the International Brigade from Ireland, but after fighting in Spain settled in Australia and served with the AIF.’ It then repeated the (incorrect) statement that he won a DCM at El Alamein.
In later years, Peter was a member of the Hornsby RSL and was also equally proud of his son, Stevan who, at 15 years of age, joined the Navy, serving for 39 years. Stevan was equally proud of his own father. A debate in April 2004 about the varying roles and importance of those on and under the sea and their allowances and conditions endured. He wrote a letter published in the Royal Australian Navy News, stating “My late father endured the siege of Tobruk, living in a sand pit, consuming stew garnished with flies and got wounded several times for his troubles. A grandfather endured the mud and filth of Gallipoli and the Somme, losing his life at Menin Wood. My cousin, a US Marine, lost his life in Vietnam on his second tour of duty. Let's not talk about 'conditions'. We've got it good! “
Peter died on the 15th July 1996 and is remembered in the New South Wales Garden of Remembrance, Rookwood.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes, SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.