Robert John SMITH

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SMITH, Robert John

Service Number:	VX39787
Enlisted:	19 February 1941
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/21st Infantry Battalion
Born:	Noojee, Victoria, Australia, 11 July 1919
Home Town:	Neerim, Baw Baw, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Truck Driver
Died:	Illness, Ambon, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies, 20 July 1945, aged 26 years
Cemetery:	Ambon War Cemetery, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Neerim South War Memorial

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Private, VX39787
19 Feb 1941:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX39787
13 Dec 1941:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX39787, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, embarked for Ambon
20 Apr 1942:	Imprisoned

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Robert John Smith (Service No:VX39787) enlisted in the Army on 19 February 1941 and embarked from Darwin for Ambon with 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion on 13 December 1941. Private Smith was reported Missing on 20 April 1942 and confirmed as a PoW of the Japanese, interned at Ambon, on 1 June 1942. Private Smith died from beri beri on 20 July 1945

Born in 1919 in Noojee Victoria, Robert was third of five children of Albert (Bert) Ernest Smith (b1891 in Neerim, Victoria) and Lucy Annie Ford (b1887 in Kent, England) - Lucy was a Domestic Servant and Children's Hospital Helper in England before immigrating in 1912, arriving in Fremantle WA on board the Orsova. Bert and Lucy married in Pinjarra WA in 1914 and settled in Neerim, Victoria where they raised their family and Bert worked as a Labourer, Splitter and Farmer. Bert served in WWI (Private; Service No:2756).

Robert worked as a Truck Driver in Neerim, Victoria before enlisting for service in WWII.

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