PROSSER, Matthew Clarence
| Service Number: | WX202 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 December 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bunbury, Western Australia, 25 September 1914 |
| Home Town: | Bunbury, Bunbury, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | labourer |
| Died: | Accidental, At sea (Nino Bixio), Mediterranean Sea, 17 August 1942, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
El Alamein War Cemetery Column 94, Egypt |
| Memorials: | Alamein Memorial (El Alamein), Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Bunbury War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, WX202 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX202, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Matthew Clarence Prosser's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Matthew was the second youngest of 12 children born to Robert and Amelia (10 surviving to adulthood). His parents married in Bunbury in 1892. Both were from well-known Bunbury families (Prosser and Gibson).
His father Robert died in 1939 aged 70 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/253090681). His mother did not remarry and lived to age 95.
An older brother George also served in WWII (WX7888).
Matthew 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.
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