Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ben was born on the 28th of March, 1910, in Euroa Victoria. He was one of eleven children of Thomas Fitzherbert and Sarah Annie (née McNay). One of Ben’s older brothers, William, was killed in action on the 8th of August 1915 at Gallipoli.

Ben enlisted at Wangaratta on the 29th of November 1939. He was allotted the Army Number VX7184 and given the rank of Private. He was transferred to the 2/7th Infantry battalion stationed at Puckapunyal on the 5th of December 1939.

He embarked at Melbourne on the 15th of April, disembarking in the Middle east on the 17th of May. Ben’s service form indicates that he was hospitalised at the 1st Australian General Hospital between the 19th and 29th of June 1940, with acute tonsillitis.

The 2/7th Battalion conducted further training in Palestine and Egypt before being involved in the Allied advance against the Italians in eastern Libya. It fought in the battles for Bardia (3rd to the 5th of January) and Tobruk (21st to the 22nd of January) then manned defensive positions at Marsa Brega on the western extent of the advance.

The battalion then embarked on the Cameronia and proceeded to Greece on the 9th of April. For the battalion it was withdrawal after withdrawal as they fought through a series of rearguard positions, eventually being evacuated on the night of the 26th April by the ship “Costa Rica ''. Unfortunately she was crippled by German aircraft so the men were rescued by the British destroyers HMS Defender, HMS Hero and HMS Hereward and then landed on Crete. 

The 2/7th were initially deployed along the coastline to defend it against German landings. However, after the landing by Fallschirmjager (German paratroops) they were moved up to join the fighting around Canea. The battalion took part in a wild bayonet charge at a place called 42nd Street. This temporarily stopped the German advance and allowed the withdrawal of troops to begin. During this rearguard action the battalion was left behind and many were taken prisoner. Ben was initially reported as “Missing in Action”. It wasn’t until the 22nd of October that information was obtained that he was now a POW in Germany.

Ben was initially incarcerated in Stalag VIIA on the 22nd of October 1941. This camp was situated near the town of Moosburg, approximately 40 kilometres north-east of Munich in Germany. On the 21st of June the following year he was transferred to Stalag 18B. This POW camp was located near Menkendorf, about 120 kilometres north-west of the previous camp. He remained here until the 15th of January 1944 when he was further transferred to Stalag 344. This last transfer would take Les over 500 kilometres from Stalag 18 B, through Czechoslovakia and into Austria.

The British camp leader at Stalag 344 informed Allied authorities that Les had died on the 1st of February 1945 due to an abscess on the brain and a secondary abscess in his ear. He was buried at the Military Cemetery Lamsdorf Field. At the end of the Second World War graves from this cemetery were reinterred 180 kilometres to the east in the Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery in Poland.

Ben is remembered on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, the Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial and the Tallangatta RSL War Memorial. For his service, he was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, the Africa Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal 1939-1945 and the Australian Service Medal 1939-1945.