WATKINS, Gordon James
| Service Number: | VX36671 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 July 1940, Royal Park, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Geelong, Greater Geelong - Victoria, Australia, 17 April 1920 |
| Home Town: | Black Rock, Bayside, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, 'The Old Strip' Buna, New Guinea, Papua, 24 December 1942, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea C6. C. 8. HIS DUTY FEARLESSLY AND NOBLY DONE EVER REMEMBERED, Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Bomana, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 2 Service
| 10 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Private, VX36671, 2nd/10th Infantry Battalion, Royal Park, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX36671, 2nd/10th Infantry Battalion | |
| 25 Aug 1942: | Involvement Private, VX36671, 2nd/10th Infantry Battalion, Milne Bay - Papua New Guinea WW2 | |
| 24 Dec 1942: | Involvement Private, VX36671, 2nd/10th Infantry Battalion, Buna / Gona / Sanananda "The Battle of the Beachheads" - Papua |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Private Gordon James WATKINS, 2nd/10th Battalion (1920-1942)
Gordon Watkins was the sone of Son of George and Kathleen Florence Watkins, of Creswick, Victoria.
He enlisted in July 1940 and served with the 2nd/10th Battalion in the Middle East and New Guinea. He was killed in action at Buna on Christams Eve 1942.
Gordon Watkins and his mate William Goodgame are explicitly mentioned in Peter Brune's book "A Bastard of a Place" p532.
They were both grievously wounded in the 2nd / 10th's attack at the 'Old Strip' east of the Buna Mission on the 24th December 1942. They were brought to the Battalion Regimental Aid Post where they were attended by the Regimental Medical Officer Captain Geoff Verco. As recounted by Lieutenant John "Andy" Andrews, the Regimental Signals Officer, they had;
"the most terrible wounds I think I've ever seen, hit in the stomach, and they were two men from D Company and their names were Watkins and Goodgame, and they were only lads.....they were inseparable cobbers, mates. They came to put Watkins and Goodgame on the stretchers (in the RAP) and they rolled one of them onto the stretcher and his intestines stayed on the ground, and they were still conscious both of them. And each was saying "Never mind about me, look after my mate". I didn't realise at the time, I should have known, Geoff Verco told me afterwards that he looked at these blokes and they were hopelss....so he kept shooting them with morphine...".
Two mates who died together thinking of the other to the last. A more powerful epiphet is hard to come by.
The inscription on his grave is apt indeed: HIS DUTY FEARLESSLY AND NOBLY DONE EVER REMEMBERED
Steve Larkins Aug 2020