Vincent Kerr TANKO

TANKO, Vincent Kerr

Service Number: NX34186
Enlisted: 17 June 1940
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: Not yet discovered
Born: Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, 9 November 1912
Home Town: Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Died of Illness (POW of Japan), Borneo, 7 February 1945, aged 32 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Labuan Memorial, Labuan, Malaysia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Wagga Wagga Sandakan Prisoner of War Memorial
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Lance Corporal, NX34186
17 Jun 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, NX34186

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Biography contributed by John Edwards

"...NX34186 Lance Corporal Vincent Kerr Tanko, No. 1 Company, Australian Army Service Corps. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POW's that made up B Force, were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942. Lance Corporal Tanko, aged 32, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 7 February 1945. He was the son of Bertram Vincent and Hilda May Tanko, and the husband of Ruth Holland Tanko, of Wollongong, NSW. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 21..."SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

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