Norman Thomas BALL

Norman Thomas BALL Update Details

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BALL, Norman Thomas

Service Number:	VX24793
Enlisted:	10 June 1940
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/21st Infantry Battalion
Born:	Kyneton, Victoria, Australia , 3 October 1918
Home Town:	St Kilda, Port Phillip, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Salesman
Died:	Presumed to be dead, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 20 February 1942, aged 23 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials:	Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Private, VX24793
10 Jun 1940:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX24793
15 Jul 1940:	Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, member of Gull Force.

Help us honour Norman Thomas Ball's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Mari Walker

Son of Cyril Howard and Lily May Ball, of East Camberwell, Victoria, Australia.

Pvte Norman Thomas Ball was born in 1918 in Kyneton, Victoria. He was a member of the 2/21 Australian Infantry which was part of Gull Force, and arrived in Ambon on 17 December 1941.
Gull Force consisted of 1131 Australian soldiers, Dutch and local native troops whose objective was to occupy Ambon Island and hinder the Japanese advance. After a number of short fierce battles, fighting on Ambon ceased on 2 February 1942. Many men were captured but those who had survived the battle for Laha (approximately 315 men) were later executed and buried in one of four mass graves.
Investigations after the war determined it was impossible to positively identify many of the remains found at Laha and these ‘war dead’ were declared “missing and for Official Purposes Presumed to be Dead, 20 February 1942”. The remains which were found were reinterred in the Ambon War Cemetery.

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