COWELL, Ernest Arthur
| Service Number: | VX25082 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Trentham, Victoria, Australia , 6 March 1910 |
| Home Town: | Trentham, Hepburn, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Executed whilst a prisoner of the Japanese, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 15 February 1942, aged 31 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, Kyneton War Memorial, Trentham War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, VX25082 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX25082 | |
| 15 Jul 1940: | Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, Part of Gull Force. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Bonald
Private Ernest Arthur Cowell (VX25082) was a member of the 2nd/21st Australian Infantry Battalion which formed 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 Ernest Arthur Cowell was a member of the large garrison (Laha 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. The executions took place on the 2nd, 5th, 10th and 20th February 1942 at or near Laha Airfield.
Investigations after the war established,that Private Ernest Arthur Cowell was taken prisoner by elements of the Japanese Imperial Force and executed at Laha, Ambon on 15 February 1942, it has been not possible to positively identify many of the remains found at Laha.
Unfortunately, and sadly Private Ernest Arthur Cowell was one of these servicemen to which the fortune of war, has denied a formal burial given to his comrades in death."
The remains of these gallant soldiers have now been reinterred in the Ambon War Cemetery as “Unidentified Australian Soldiers” and it is quite possible, Private Ernest Arthur Cowell maybe one of them.
“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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