Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born at Woodville, on the 4th March 1914, to Muriel and John Todd, Edward as the eldest son, was named after his father, John. However, from an early age, he was called Jack. He grew up and lived in Cheltenham, a western suburb of Adelaide. Jack was a motor driver until the outbreak of WWII.
He was 26 when he enlisted on the 29th June, ’40. Jack was given the number SX7238 and allocated to the 2/48th Battalion. He and other enlistees were initially housed in the Motor Pavilion of what is now the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds where his ‘bed’ was straw filled hessian on wooden pallets. The young men were later given kitbags on which their names were stencilled. Their battalion then headed to Woodside in the Adelaide Hills for preliminary training.
Following brief leave, Jack headed overseas on the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 7th November ’40, arriving on the 19th December 1940. There, the recruits completed a few months training in Cyrenaica before heading to serve in Tobruk, Syria and Egypt. By the start of April 1941, the 2/48th were in Tobruk where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to the men who were to become the famed Rats of Tobruk.
At the start of May that year, the 2/48th prepared for an attack from Forbes Mound. John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan described how ‘wave after wave of German dive bombers attacked the perimeter during the morning, and at mid-day they swept over our battalion area where their bombing was joined with a heavy concentration of enemy artillery fire. The men went quickly to cover.’ Soon after the battalion attempted to recapture posts R6 and R7 but this attack was called off initially, but then the order was rescinded. With the weary 2/48th considerably behind the start line, the 2/10th were to take the 2/48th‘s place in the Blue Line. The men were to be carried to the start line in trucks. However, Glenn described how ‘these vehicles had not arrived at the start time arranged, no doubt having been delayed by the sand-storm which had been raging all afternoon.’ It was during the ensuing battle that Jack was wounded, along with others from the 2/10th Battalion.
He sustained an injury to his left leg, with this news being shared back home, alongside those from the 2/10th who were also injured at the same time. The News also carried a photo and caption that ‘Pte. J E. Todd, eldest son of Mr J. Todd. of Cheltenham, has been wounded in action. Pte. Todd, who is 27, left Australia in November. He has a brother serving in the navy.’ As a result of his injury, Jack spent three months in hospital before being able to re-join the 2/48th in August 41. By November the following year, he had been graded as a Group III Tech Storemen.
With their time in the Middle East concluding, Jack and his battalion headed home to Australia in February ’43, arriving via Melbourne. However, he was soon to be diagnosed with a painful peptic ulcer in April, with one of the known causes being severe physiological stress. Inevitably, Jack was classified as being medically fit for duties ‘which require only restricted medical fitness.’ Despite being diagnosed with dyspepsia in Nov ’43, he continued to serve, but at the Loveday Internment Camp near Barmera. This facility held predominantly German, Italian and Japanese internees and prisoners of war. This was virtually a self-sufficient Camp where the internees also grew produce for the army, including the opium poppy, to provide the army with a regular morphine supply for injured soldiers.
There Jack served with a fellow 2/48th soldier, Fred Woolridge, SX6880, who had twice been injured in the Middle East with wounds to his chest and head. Like Jack, Fred’s injuries also prevented him from further warfare or training in Queensland to go to New Guinea. The two injured mates shared time at Loveday where they shared memories of the men with whom they served, many who never came home, but were always remembered. Jack and Fred placed a poignant tribute in the Advertiser. ‘A token of remembrance to my pals and comrades of the 2/48tn Btn. who fell at El Alamein in Oct, 1942. Lest we forget.—lnserted by Jack Todd and Fred Wooldridge.’ The memories of those forever young soldiers always remained with those who survived.
Ill health continued to plague Jack with hyperacidity, then appendicitis prior to his discharge in September ’45. He later moved to live in Mallala.
Aged 87, Jack died on the 19th August, 2001 and was buried at Centennial Park Cemetery, with the inscription ‘Loved Always and Remembered by his Family and Friends’. He now rests in the Services family section, Shrub bed 6 position 110.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.