Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Jack Newton was my dad, he was born on the 2nd Feb 1919 to parents George Frederick & Jennie Eileen Newton. He grew up in Moorak near Mount Gambier and went to Moorak Primary and Mount Gambier High Schools.
As a young man he joined the 3rd Light Horse Militia Regiment and on May 1940 he took discharge from the Militia and joined the AIF initially posted to the 8th Division Armoured Regiment and he did his initial training in Woodside SA. After further training in Puckapunyal he and his mates were soon to embark with the 8th Div to Singapore but at some stage enroute across the Indian Ocean the 8 Div Armd Regt were transferred to the 2/9th Div & cut away from the convoy & redirected to the Middle East - lucky for him as the most of the 8 Div were captured in the fall of Singapore & they spent the war as Japanese POW's
After training in Egypt & Syria Jack & his mates eventually found themselves re equipped from their small Mark IV tanks to the Cruisader tanks and the 2/9 Div Cav Regt formed part of the British Eighth Army in the Battle of El Alemein. On 22 Oct 1942 at a mere 22 yrs of age Jack was a crew commander in a Crusader tank taking the might of the German Army in their much heavier Tiger Tank.
After Japan entered the war Australian troops were withdrawn from the Middle East back to Australia to help defend their homeland from the advancing Japanese. Jack was re rolled from a Cavalryman to be trained as a Commando in the Atherton Tablelands in Qld as part of 2-12 Sqn 9 Div Cav Commando Regiment. Jack was employed as a 'specialist signaller" & as part of the 2-12 Sqn was deployed behind enemy lines or in advance of the main allied landings across the northern beaches of New Guinea, Borneo, Tarakan & Labuan.
At wars end Jack was repatriated to Australia for discharge on 5 Nov 1945 and on the 14 Nov 1945 he married his sweetheart Kathleen Nulty and settled in their home district of Mount Gambier (Moorak, Allendale East, Mount Schank & Mount Gambier). They had 5 sons, Jack was an avid member of the RSL of both Port MacDonnell and Mount Gambier. He was active in Legacy and was president of the Mount Gambier RSL for a time. Jack was run down and killed by a car on 18 Mar 1978 while walking home from an RSL function - he was 59 yrs of age.
For some reason Jack's name is missing off of the Commando memorial at Keswick Barracks in Adelaide but it does hold his brother Len's name.