LAKE, Geoffrey James
| Service Number: | VX33950 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Anti Tank Batteries / Companies |
| Born: | Capels Crossing, Victoria, Australia, 27 October 1917 |
| Home Town: | Kerang, Gannawarra, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died at sea (Montevideo Maru), South China Sea, 1 July 1942, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commeorated: - Panel 3, Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul Montevideo Maru Memorial |
Biography contributed by Dianne Black
Parents: - Charles Henry Lake and Amy Frances Westblade (married 1914 in Victoria), of Kerang, Victoria.
Details of Final Posting……Gunner Geoffrey James Lake enlisted on 24th June 1940 and served in New Britain. Following the Japanese invasion on 23rd January 1942, (Battle of Rabaul), he was taken prisoner of war (POW) and held at Rabaul. On 22nd June 1942 Gunner Geoffrey James Lake was one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the unmarked Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 2/22 Battalion, No. 1 Independent Company, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.
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