Frederick Francis BEEL

Frederick Francis BEEL Update Details

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BEEL, Frederick Francis

Service Numbers:	68764, VX26813
Enlisted:	14 June 1940, Caulfield, Victoria
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/21st Infantry Battalion
Born:	Baarmutha, Victoria, Australia, 28 March 1900
Home Town:	Baarmutha, Indigo, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Miner Labourer
Died:	Presumed to be dead, Ambon, Netherlands, East Indies, 20 February 1942, aged 41 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemorated ~ Column 3, Ambon Memorial, Maluku, Indonesia.
Memorials:	Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Beechworth Shire WW1 Honour Roll, Beechworth War Memorial

World War 1 Service

22 Oct 1918:	Embarked Private, 68764, 1st to 17th (VIC) Reinforcements, HMAT Boonah, Adelaide
22 Oct 1918:	Involvement Private, 68764, 1st to 17th (VIC) Reinforcements, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Boonah embarkation_ship_number: A36 public_note: ''

World War 2 Service

14 Jun 1940:	Enlisted Private, VX26813, Caulfield, Victoria
14 Jun 1940:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX26813
20 Feb 1942:	Involvement Private, VX26813, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, Prisoners of War

Help us honour Frederick Francis Beel's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Son of John and Louisa Ellen Maude Beel, of Beechworth, Victoria, Australia; husband of Rosalie Beel, of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.

Biography contributed by Stephen Bonald

Private Frederick Francis Beel was a member of the 2nd/21st Australian Infantry Battalion which was a part of “Gull Force”.

This force consisted of 1131 Australian soldiers, Dutch and local native troops whose objective was to occupy Ambon Island, which is located approximately 350 miles North Northeast of Timor in the Banda Sea and hinder the Japanese advance. Private Frederick Francis Beel was a member of the large garrison, positioned around Laha Airfield prior to the Japanese invasion of 30 January 1942.

After a series of short but fierce battles, fighting on Ambon Island ceased on 2 February 1942. Although many of those captured on other parts of the island survived the war. The troops who had survived the “Battle of Laha” (approximately 315 personnel) were systematically 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. Therefore these ‘war dead’ were declared “ Become missing and for Official Purposes Presumed to be Dead, 20 February 1942”. Unfortunately, and sadly Private Frederick Francis Beel was one of these servicemen where the fortune of war, has denied this known and honoured, ANZAC, burial given to his comrades in death."

“Not one life can we call lost, For with it will be riven, The sacred memory of a life, Unto his country given." -

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