OSBORNE, John
| Service Number: | WX13496 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 May 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Surrey, England, 29 July 1918 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | farm hand |
| Died: | Accidental, At sea (Nino Bixio), Mediterranean Sea, 17 August 1942, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Col 94 |
| Memorials: | Alamein Memorial (El Alamein), Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Fairbridge War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, WX13496 | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 May 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX13496, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour John Osborne's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
John arrived in Fremantle aboard Barrabool from Liverpool in October 1930, bound for Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra. He was 12 years old. No matching birth found in Surrey; parents unknown.
John's next of kin is shown as his best friend, Jack Jeffries. Jack was also a Fairbridgian, having arrived in 1928. Jack also enlisted (W22712), naming John as his next of kin.
John was one of 41 Australian POWs killed when the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 August 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. Of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident, four died later by execution. Most of the Australian casualties were from the 2/28th Infantry Battalion.