SMITH, Robert John
Service Number: | VX39787 |
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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 | |
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19 Feb 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX39787 | |
13 Dec 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX39787, 2nd/21st Infantry Battalion, embarked for Ambon | |
20 Apr 1942: | Imprisoned |
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Add my storyBiography 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.