BANKS, Donald Nelson
| Service Number: | VX37151 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 31 May 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia , 12 August 1914 |
| Home Town: | Toorak, Stonnington, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Accountant and Typist |
| Died: | Presumed to be dead, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 20 February 1942, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemorated ~ Column 2, Ambon Memorial, Maluku, Indonesia. |
| Memorials: | Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement VX37151 | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, VX37151 | |
| 24 May 1941: | Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Mari Walker
Son of Thomas Ledman Banks and Grace Shophe Banks, of Toorak, Victoria, Australia.
L/Cpl Donald Nelson Banks was born in 1914 in Melbourne, Victoria. He enlisted in May 1940 and 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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