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TANCRED, John Fairfax
Service Number: | QX8806 |
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Enlisted: | 10 June 1940 |
Last Rank: | Private |
Last Unit: | 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion |
Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 18 April 1912 |
Home Town: | Kingaroy, South Burnett, Queensland |
Schooling: | Toowoomba Grammar School, Queensland, Australia |
Occupation: | station hand |
Died: | Accidental, At sea (Nino Bixio), Mediterranean Sea, 17 August 1942, aged 30 years |
Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Alamein Memorial, El Alamein War Cemetery, El Alamein, Marsa Matruh, Egypt, Column 94 |
Memorials: | Alamein Memorial (El Alamein), Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Toowoomba Anglican College Faithful Unto Death |
World War 2 Service
3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, QX8806 | |
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10 Jun 1940: | Enlisted | |
10 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX8806, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion | |
17 Aug 1942: | Discharged |
Help us honour John Fairfax Tancred'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 was the elder of two sons born to Richard and Ethel (known as Daisy). His parents married in Queensland in April 1909 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19571382).
John's father Richard owned Burrandowan Station in Jandowae, near Dalby in Queensland. He died in 1934 aged 59 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/182637831).
His family had strong military connections. John's grandfather George TANCRED of Roxburghshire, Scotland, was a Captain in the British Army (2nd Dragoons, known as the Scots Greys). He was born George CLEGHORN but formally changed his name to TANCRED in 1885 to comply with the will of his uncle, Captain James DALTON.
John's younger brother Peter Lumsden TANCRED (1919-1993) also enlisted in WWI. He was a Major, later Brigadier and OBE.
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.