Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

RALPH FREDRICK  CHURCHES

22 November 1917 – 18 October 2014

Ralph Churches, who has died aged 96, organised a mass escape from wartime imprisonment in 1944; he then led more than 100 men on an epic trek through mountainous terrain. The young private from a Murray Mallee farming family was awarded the British Empire Medal and promoted to sergeant.

In 1996, he published  A Hundred Miles as the Crow Flies – an account of the escape with a title inspired by his nickname as a POW (owing to his South Australian origins) and by a constant passion to free himself of that status.

Reporting for duty with the 2/48th Australian Infantry Battalion in June 1940, two days after marrying his fiancée, Ronte, he was posted first to North Africa and subsequently seconded – as a map-making specialist – to ANZAC headquarters in the Greek campaign. When his unit was over-run by German forces, he and six companions commandeered a boat, rowing for two weeks down the east coast of Greece.

They were captured in May 1941. Ralph Churches, suffering from malaria and dysentery, then endured an appalling transfer by train to Maribor prison camp in southern Austria (now Slovenian territory). Regaining his health, he concentrated on learning the Slovene dialect and, with the help of local partisans violently opposed to the German presence, engineered a series of break-outs by POWs forced to work on railway gangs beyond the camp perimeter.

According to the official record, 105 men – with Ralph at the head of the column – then walked for 14 days, covering 250 kilometres, to a partisan-held airfield. Six of the liberated prisoners became separated from the main groups during an attack by their former jailers, who kept up a furious pursuit.

From the airfield, the surviving 99 escapees (eight French, nine New Zealand, 12 Australian, 70 British POWs) were flown on five DC-3 aircraft to Bari in southern Italy.

Back in Australia, and discharged from military service in October 1945, Ralph celebrated his freedom by singing in a church choir, playing cricket and golf, and achieving notable success in life insurance. He rose to become SA manager of the Legal & General company. He and Ronte had a daughter and two sons.

In the 1970s, he twice travelled to Slovenia for reunions with veterans of the partisan movement. Recounting in March this year the events that forged those bonds of comradeship, The Sydney Morning Herald published a tribute to the life of Ralph Churches. His famous escape, said the newspaper, “proved the Crow could fly”.

Son of Mr and Mrs James S. CHURCHES.  Educated at Adelaide High School with leaving honours, Ralph enjoyed tennis, golf and other outdoor sports. He was also keen on dramatic art and was well-known for entertaining and singing (baritone).  He had a happy disposition.  Married with one son he was residing at Wudinna, Eyre Peninsula and working as a bank clerk when he enlisted in June 1940.

Husband of Olive CHURCHES, 17 Richard Street, Flinders Park, SA