Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Contributed by Peterborough High School

Eric was a well-known local around Peterborough. He was a hardworking man with a passion for farming. When asked why he enlisted in the war, Eric said, 'he wanted to serve the king, protect his country' and saw it as a good opportunity to see the world.

Childhood

Eric Sambell was born on the 29th of September 1920 at the Mrs. Harris nursing home in Peterborough, South Australia. Eric's father's name was Thomas Joyce Sambell and his mother's name was Edith Sambell (maiden name was McMurtrie). He had a brother and sister as well as 2 step brothers. Eric's first home was on a farm at Parnaroo called "Hillside". He lived there for 7 years, before moving to a bigger property called "The Olives". Eric lived there from the age of 7 until he got married.

"The Olives" was 3 miles from the Ucolta school. Eric was 7 years old when he started school. The Ucolta school had approximately 15 children and 1 teacher. He completed 6 years at this school and then went to Peterborough to complete his qualifying certificate in 1933 at the age of 13.

His family was poor and there was little work around, due to the depression. Eric was handed an axe to cut wood for his father, along with other jobs around the farm. In 1937, he got a job clearing the scrub to make way for a road to Broken Hill. Eric's father then bought a few sheep so Eric learnt how to shear sheep by hand. Eric then bought a portable shearing plant and went out contract shearing with his neighbour.

Eric's sister Sylvia, was in the Australian Women's Army Service and his younger brother William, was in the Australian Imperial Force. His oldest stepbrother fought in WWl and his other stepbrother was in WW2 in the Middle East.

On the 20th of March 1941, Eric decided to enlist in the army at Wayville, South Australia. Eric needed parent permission to go because he was only 20 years old.

During War

Eric joined the 2/27th battalion, South Australia's largest battalion. He went to Woodside for three weeks training before he got on a train for Sydney. On the 10th of April 1941 he boarded a boat called the "lie De France" and sailed to Suez. They travelled with 4 other boats, one boat went to Singapore and the soldiers on board ended up as prisoners of war. When interviewed, Eric said he was very thankful he wasn't on that ship!

They arrived in Suez, in May 1941. Eric caught a train and ferry to Gaza and began training at Camp Dimra. On the 8th June 1941 Eric's battalion was sent to Syria to support the 21st Australian Brigade in their attack against the Vichy French who were working with the Germans by then, following the fall of France in June 1940. The 2/27th Battalions orders were to regain control of the French colonies in Syria and Lebanon as they believed that Germany would enter other countries via these places.

From the 5th of July to the 12th of July 1941Eric's Battalion was involved in the attack on Damour. His

battalion played a major role in this battle. This was the first place Eric fired his rifle and felt like a real soldier. On the 11th of July 1941armistice was called by the French after 3 weeks of battle. This was the last battle in the Syria and Lebanon campaign. After the armistice was declared, Eric became sick with yellow jaundice and spent the next month recovering in Palestine before returning to Syria.

In January 1942, Eric arrived at a camp called "Hill Sixty-Nine" in Palestine. He then set sail for an unknown destination on board the "lie de France". One week later they arrived at Bombay. They then boarded the "City of London" boat and headed to Java. The American-British-Dutch-Australian command were trying to stop the Japanese invasion of Java but Eric's boat was too slow in getting there so the decision was made to head to Colombo instead and then back to Fremantle in March 1942. Eric said it was the luckiest thing ever not getting into Java, they would have been gone in his eyes, either captured or killed.

Three days later he returned to Adelaide. Eric only had one week's leave before being sent to Glen Innes, NSW for training. From there, Eric went to Caloundra in Queensland to prepare for battle against the Japanese. 

On the 7th of August 1942, Eric's Battalion left for New Guinea as they believed the Japanese were going to take Port Moresby. They got off at Port Moresby on the 14th of August 1942 but didn't go into action until the 30th of August 1942. When the 2/27th first arrived at Papua New Guinea it was made up of 777 men.

They spent one week getting to the Kokoda track and fighting, but then they were cut off from the Kokoda track by the Japanese. Eric's battalion spent two weeks struggling through the jungle to survive before they made it back to safety. During this time, they barely ate and the men lost a lot of weight. Eric slept on the ground but no one slept very well in fear of being attacked. When they finally made it out, they were very sick and starving. They were also carrying 12 wounded men on stretchers at the time. Eric didn't think they were going to survive.

After recovering from Kokoda, the 2/27th battalion flew over to attack Gona, but on the first day Eric was wounded. He thought it was a fragment of a grenade but he definitely knew it wasn't a bullet. He was evacuated and didn't return. He was hit on the right-hand side of his head. The shrapnel remained in his head for the rest of his life.

When the 2/27th pulled out of Gana in January 1943 only 70 men walked away, everyone else was either dead, wounded or hospitalized with tropical disease.

Eric returned home to Australia in January 1943 and went to Ravenshoe, Queensland for more training. In August 1943 Eric got on a boat again and went back to New Guinea to Ramu Valley. Eric only did a month in battle there, before returning home again in February 1944. After some leave they were sent back to Brisbane and stayed at Strathpine from April to August. Eric participated in some more training at the Atherton Tablelands from September 1944 until June 1945 before being sent to Balikpapan, Borneo. They were still in action when the war ended on the 15th of August 1945 as they had been guarding the Japanese prisoners of war. Eric was discharged on the 29th of January 1946.

After War

Eric returned to his parent's farm after the war. He bought 2500 acres from his neighbour and some sheep to graze on it. Eric and Joan were married in May 1948. They bought another property at Ucolta and lived there for 52 years.

They had their first daughter in August 1949 and ended up with 6 daughters. Eric rarely spoke about his experiences in the war. It wasn't until about 10 years before he died that he really got into the history of it all and wanted to do something with it. Eric wasn't capable of writing a book so he decided to do an interview with Louise Pascale and Kathy Sport to talk about the war and his life instead.

Once Eric retired, his neighbour suggested to him that he become involved in the District Council of Peterborough. Eric joined council in 1957 and this became a very important part of his life after war. He was the last chairman of the District Council of Peterborough.

Eric attended every ANZAC parade in Adelaide except for the year he passed away as he was too unwell to attend. ANZAC Day meant a lot to Eric, and he was proud to be able to march. 

When Eric was 92 years old he travelled with Ray Baldwin (who also served in the 2/27th battalion) back to the Kokoda track with six other veterans from around Australia to take part in the 70th anniversary commemoration ceremonies in Papua New Guinea. Eric said he felt ok with revisiting, but the memories he had left behind were terrible.

Eric's wife Joan died on the 8th of October 2013. They were married for 65 years. She was buried at the Lancelot cemetery. Eric was diagnosed with dementia shortly after Joan's death and passed away on the 28th of October 2016. He was buried alongside his wife.

Part B

Firstly, I selected the person I wanted to research. From there, I decided to choose Eric as he was a well-known local of Peterborough and he is buried in the Lancelot cemetery which is on my property. Eric's grandson also shears for us.

I searched Eric Sambell up on the internet and didn't have very much success in finding information, so we contacted one of his daughters, Dianne Philp and

we organised an interview with her at Peterborough High School. With her, she bought a whole folder of information on Eric as well as his medals that he had received during war. Dianne talked about Eric and answered any questions that I had asked. Dianne then let me take photos of his medals so I could include them in my assignment, and she also let me borrow all of the information so I could read through it and take notes.

I also searched up the battalion he was in and read a bit about what his group did and where they went. I read about the different battles he fought in too on the internet.

Bibliography

https://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/2231 

https://www.awm.gov.au/co11ection/U56070

https://www.adelaidenow.eom.au/ipad/the-last-heroes-of-kokoda­-take-stock/news-story/alb82245d69465d84f261c487c9c5168

https://www.news.eom.au/national/south-australia/veterans-trek-back-to-remember-mates-lost-on-kokoda-track/news-story/4574b7046de52a2aba21ca979cfa4675

https://www.theflindersnews.eom.au/story/738829/old-soldier­-keeps-war-memory-in-his-head/