Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Desmond (Des) was born in Adelaide on the 14th October 1922 and appeared to be an adventurous boy growing up. However, as a youngster of 15, he was unlucky to have fallen and broken his leg – an accident that made the August ‘38 edition of the Advertiser. It was reported that ‘With a leg fractured as the result of a fall, Desmond Taylor, 15, of Cromwell street, city, was taken in an SJL. ambulance to the Adelaide Hospital last night and admitted.’
Prior to the outbreak of WWII, Des had been a part of the militia but was motivated to serve his country and probably to see the world. Consequently, before his 18th birthday he enlisted on the 9th April ’40 at Keswick, becoming SX7911 in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. His early training was at Wayville in what is now the Adelaide Showgrounds. From there, the new enlistees moved to Woodside in the Adelaide Hills.
The next month, Des embarked on the Stratheden in November 1940 and arriving in the Middle East on the 17th December. The 2/48th Battalion completed a few months training in Cyrenaica before going to Tobruk at the start of April 1941 where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to these fresh new enlistees.
Des became good friends with 29-year-old Teddy Boxer SX7528 and 31-year-old Harold Parker SX7572 who enlisted at a similar time and probably took the young volunteer under their ‘wings’. The trio were quickly involved in the fierce, relentless fighting. Des carried that loyalty to the point where he was instrumental in saving Teddy from bleeding to death.
With the enemy preparing for an assault on Ras El Medauuar, under the command of Captain Forbes, a successful large-scale attack was planned pre-dawn on the 22nd April ’41. The battalion returned to base, but Des realised that Ted was missing. Despite never having driven a car, he grabbed Harold Parker with the two ‘acquiring’ a light truck to go and find Ted, which they did, as well as a few other injured soldiers. Ted described to the ‘West Coast Recorder’ the events that occurred:
‘A company of 90 men were advancing on the enemy in the outer defences, about 20 miles away from the town. At a distance of 300 yards they charged in a line with fixed bayonets and despite the fire of the enemy, they reached their objective and brought in 350 prisoners. Pte. Boxer said the Germans "threw up the sponge" when confronted by the Australians with bayonets. As the line of soldiers advanced, Pte. Boxer was hit in the leg by an anti-tank shell, taking the limb off below the knee. He did not feel the injury in the excitement. His first reaction to what happened, was one of cold rage. Picking up his boot lying some yards away with the foot still in it, he waved it viciously at the enemy and tried to carry on, but soon had to pull out. He partly stopped the bleeding by tying two scarves tightly around his leg and crawled to a nearby gully. In the meantime, the company withdrew with the prisoners, and back at their base a check up was made, when it was found that Pte. Boxer and others were missing.
‘Shortly afterwards, Ptes. Harold Parker, of Butler Tanks, and Desmond Taylor, of Adelaide, went out again in a light truck and picked up a number of injured, including Pte. Boxer. The area from which they made the rescue was still under artillery fire, and Pte. Boxer paid tribute to the courage of these two soldiers. He said that to their action he probably owes his life. He thinks that they probably volunteered to go out, as they were both mates of his. Pte. Boxer gave an indication of the stiff fight being put up by the Australians at Tobruk, when he said they were each rationed to a pint of water a day. He had worn the same singlet there for 24 months.’
The area from which Des and Harold made the rescue was still under artillery fire, and Pte. Boxer paid tribute to the courage of his rescuers, to whose action he owes his life. Pte. Boxer gave an indication of the stiff fight being put up by the Australians at Tobruk when he said they were each rationed to a pint of water a day. He had worn the singlet for 21 months, yet he wanted to go back again to help his mates.
The story was also published in the July ’41 edition of the Chronicle. ‘Ted, who is a farmer at Penong with his father, Dave Boxer, says that Libya reminded him of the country between Iron Knob and Whyalla. After he had had his leg shot off, he would have been taken prisoner, but in the nick of time along came Dez Taylor (Gilles street, Adelaide) and Harold Parker (Port Lincoln), and picked him up.’
In a letter published in the Advertiser in October ’41, Dean Liddicoat SX8516 from Yorketown wrote to a friend “lf you see Teddy Boxer again, tell him his best friend Des. Taylor is tops of the trees and is back in Palestine. You see, Des was on the spot when Teddy got hit. Des., who is 18 years old, has been recommended for the MM." Ted Boxer (Penong) returned home minus a leg a few months ago. and told me that but for Des. Taylor and Harold Parker, he would have been taken prisoner at Tobruk.” Anecdotally, Ted was adamant that Des should have been recommended for a Military Medal but it was rumoured that Des had an altercation with a superior officer which prevented this being realised.
Des survived the Middle East, returning to Australia before then training in Queensland to fight in very different, tropical conditions and against a totally different enemy. While in New Guinea he contracted malaria, a scourge that affected so many of his fellow soldiers. He was eventually discharged in October ’44.
Post war, Des married Alice Joan Marks who was a niece of Teddy and they had three children, Valerie, Douglas and Sharyn. Des and Joan moved to live in Whyalla where work was plentiful. It is also ironic that Ted Boxer had commented in an interview that the area in which they faced fighting in the Middle East was so reminiscent of the country between Iron Knob and Whyalla. Joan and her two older children, Valerie and Douglas still visited her West Coast family, at one time returning with Joan’s young brother, Ernie Marks. The link with the Marks family was strong with Des presenting Bill Marks with an autographed key on his 21st birthday in June ’49 and the family certainly enjoyed the games and competitions.
However, whilst Des knew the war was behind him, his war experiences remained with him, as did the deeply embedded need to protect his fellow soldiers and himself when the, to him, very real noise of an incoming bomb echoed through his head. Once these repeated memories had been implanted in his mind, they would never leave him. He would scramble into a foxhole, exhorting his mates to take cover, all the while being totally oblivious to his real family in the room with him. Inevitably, to try and block out those war images the ‘best’ escape post war was for him to binge drink. Immediately post WWII, there was no acknowledgement of PTSD or effective treatment and the advice to returnees was to ‘get on with life’.
Aged a very young 44-year-old, Des died on the 19th September ’67 when his oldest child, Valerie was just 22 years of age, newly married and with Des’ first grandchild, a seven month old granddaughter. His reaction to the experiences of war denied him the opportunity to enjoy life as a grandparent. He is buried in the Whyalla Cemetery.
Written and researched by Kaye Lee daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133 2/48th Battalion