BATH, Vivian Claude
| Service Number: | VX47978 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 July 1940, Caulfield, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Morgan, South Australia, 30 June 1904 |
| Home Town: | Mildura, Mildura Shire, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Jockey/Professional Fisherman |
| Died: | Died of illness (war service related), Mildura, Victoria, 4 May 1983, aged 78 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Renmark District Roll of Honour WW2 |
World War 2 Service
| 27 Jul 1940: | Involvement Private, VX47978 | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Caulfield, Victoria | |
| 27 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX47978, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion | |
| 28 Nov 1945: | Discharged | |
| 28 Nov 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX47978, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
My Favourite Stories from Dad
Around the depression times Vivian had the whole family living in a tin hut on the Murray River bank using a hessian bag for a front door. My family would hunt rabbits and catch fish to sell and to eat, to keep the wolf from the door.
My pop signed up with his brother Charlie for King and Country, first training at Caulfield, Victoria, before being shipped off to Singapore. There he was taken prisoner when Singapore fell to the Japanese. He was first held in Changi before being marched to work on the Burma Railway.
Viv (as we called him) returned home at the war's end weighing just 42 kg's (his height about 5' 9"). He was under-nourished and ill from the conditions that he and his mates were forced to work under. Pop did not say much at all about what was done to him and his mates or what he had seen, but one thing he WOULD say when asked about what happened over there was; "I am one of the lucky ones - because I came home."
Submitted 2 May 2015 by Allen Bath
Biography
Vivian (my pop) was a jockey by profession and he also fished professionally along the Murray River, from Morgan S.A., to Euston N.S.W. He married Jean and they had 6 children.
Final Resting Place: Nichols Point Cemetery, Karadoc Ave., Nichols Point, Victoria