Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Albert John Schorer buried Benghazi had his war grave in Libya smashed by Islamists in 2012. A story was published in national and Western Australia Newspapers c. 8 March 2012. Pte Albert John Schorer was one of seven World War II servicemen from Western Australia whose graves were attacked at the Benghazi War Cemetery, the final resting place for more than 1200 Allied soldiers and airmen. In March 2012 the Federal Government released the names of 45 Australians whose headstones had been smashed. The headstones of five unidentified Australians were also damaged. The names of the others who enlisted in WA whose graves were damaged are: Tom Allan Auld, Percival Arnold Roy McFarlane, Sydney Albert Richardson, Frederick John Alfred Saunders, Maurice Basil Thompson and Robert Thomson. Pte Schorer sailed for the Middle East in 1941. Pte Schorer joined the Light Horse regiment of the 2/32nd Battalion and died aged 23 of gangrene in North Africa on August 12, 1942, while held by the Italians as a prisoner of war.

Other news reported that Private Albert John Schorer was one of 238 damaged when a group of rebel extremists went on a rampage in the Commonwealth Benghazi War Cemetery in February 2012. Video footage of the men laughing and swearing as they smashed headstones and tore down the Cross of Remembrance with a sledgehammer has emerged. Private Schorer, a member of the 2/32nd Infantry Battalion, was 23 when he died after contracting dysentery in a prisoner of war camp late in 1942.