Edwin George GROSSMAN

GROSSMAN, Edwin George

Other Name: CROSSLEY, Edwin George - aka
Service Number: VX65028
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion
Born: Geelong, Victoria, Australia , 16 August 1904
Home Town: Geelong, Greater Geelong, Victoria
Schooling: Victorian State School System, Australia
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Presumed to be dead, Laha, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 20 February 1942, aged 37 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
(CWGC) Official Commemoration ~ Column 3, Ambon Memorial, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia.
Memorials: Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, VX65028
15 Jan 1942: Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, Part of Gull Force.

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Biography contributed by Stephen Bonald

Edwin George Grossman enlisted under the name of Edwin George Crossley

Private Edwin George Grossman (VX65028) 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 Edwin George Grossman 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 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 Edwin George Grossman 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 Edwin George Grossman 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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