CURTIS, Stanley Gordon
| Service Number: | WX10626 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 January 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Lark Force |
| Born: | Jarrahdale, Western Australia, 1 May 1918 |
| Home Town: | Claremont, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Truck Driver |
| Died: | Died of wounds received on SS Induna Star, Kokopu East New Britain, Pacific Islands, 2 February 1942, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemorated: - Panel 12 Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. |
| Memorials: | Armadale War Memorial, Australian Commando Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Rabaul Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, WX10626 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jan 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX10626 | |
| 14 Jan 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX10626, Lark Force, Claremont, and assigned to 2/1 Independent Company, Lark Force. | |
| 2 Feb 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX10626, Lark Force, Presumed to have died of wounds in Rabaul region, Papua New Guinea. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Dianne Black
Parents:- Horace Gordon Stanley Curtis and Olive May Clough married, 1909 in Jarrahdale, Wstern Australia
Wife:- Arvonia Jean Curtis, of Armadale, Western Australia.
Biography contributed
Stanley Gordon CURTIS (1919-1942)
From https://www.birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/Stanley_Gordon_Curtis
Stan enlisted at the Western Command Details Depot at Claremont on 14 Jan 1941 and, designated a General Reinforcement, he was sent on 22 Jan 1941 to the Naval Base Training Depot.
On 28 Mar 1941 Stan was transferred to the No 2 Training Battalion at Northam. From 24 April until midnight 1 May 1941 Stan enjoyed pre-embarkation leave.
On 4 May 1941 Stanley was transferred to the 7th Infantry Training Centre in South Australia, arriving there on 10 May 1941. There he was transferred to the 1st Independent Company on 24 May 1941.
Granted pre-embarkation leave again from 20 Jun until 30 Jun 1041, he was embarked aboard HMT Z in Melbourne on 12 Jul 1941 for New Guinea where he disembarked on 24 Jul 1941. While on leave in 1941 he married Arvonia (Jean) Watts see Arvonia (Jean) Curtis (1919 - 2002).
From the history of the 1st Independent Company, it appears that Stanley was killed when on 2 Feb 1942 the schooner SS Induna Star, on which they were attempting to escape on from larger Japanese forces, was sighted by a Japanese plane. It subsequently attacked, causing considerable damage to the vessel as well as destroying one of its lifeboats and causing a number of casualties. Stanley was to die from wounds received.
For those that survived the strafing, SS Induna Star had begun taking on water and as a result the men were forced to surrender. Under escort by a Japanese aircraft and then later a destroyer, they were instructed to sail to Rabaul where they became prisoners of war. The Officers were sep[arated and sent to Japan, and the enlisted men aand other spersonnel from Lark Force and Civilian Administration internees followed on another ship, the SS Montevideo Maru. All 1054 souls were lost when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by the US Submarine USS Sturgeon off Hainan on 1 July 1942.
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