NICOLAI, Martin Kurte
| Service Number: | SX10282 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 October 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/3rd Field Regiment |
| Born: | Robertstown, SA, 3 October 1914 |
| Home Town: | Robertstown, Goyder, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Injuries, Australia, 6 February 1943, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
Cairns War Cemetery Plot A. Row A. Grave 12., Cairns Cemetery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 2 Service
| 4 Oct 1940: | Involvement Gunner, SX10282 | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Oct 1940: | Enlisted Adelaide, SA | |
| 4 Oct 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, SX10282, 2nd/3rd Field Regiment | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Wilhelm Richard Berthold Nicolai and Ernstine Martha Nicolai, of Saddleworth, South Australia.
DEATH OF M. K. NICOLAI.
Yesterday Mr. T. E. Dwyer, Coroner, gave his finding following the inquest into the death of Martin Kurte Nicolai, which occurred in a hospital in Cairns after he was injured when a truck capsized at Yatte, near Edmonton, on February 6, 1943. It read: " Deceased was a passenger on an Australian army truck proceeding from Gordonvale to Cairns on February 6, 1943. The truck was driven by Gunner Winten Daglish Hoffman. When negotiating a bend in the roadway near Edmonton and on the Gordonvale side of Edmonton the truck got out of control and over- turned. Deceased, with other passengers in the truck, was thrown out on to the roadway, sustaining injuries
from which he died the same day. The evidence as to the speed at which the vehicle was travelling just prior to the accident is conflicting, but, in view of the distance the truck travelled after the brakes were applied to where it turned over (as indicated by skidmarks on the bitumen surface), it is a reasonable inference that the truck was travelling at a fairly fast speed. There is no reliable evidence that the speed was dangerously excessive and I am unable to say that the driver of the truck was guilty of criminal negligence.'
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