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Ray ‘Chocky’ Hassan (QX16551), born in 1918, in Wilcannia, New South Wales, was the third son of an Afghan family, Hassan, of Adelaide, and formerly of Broken Hill. He was educated at the South Broken Hill Convent School. He lived in Adelaide for three years and also worked as a stockman on an outback station in Queensland. While in New South Wales, he also competed in camel racing and rugby competitions. He was a loveable character. He loved old cars always thinking about cars and how to fix them.

Ray enlisted in 1940 in Toowoomba, Queensland, serving in the 2/15th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Army. He left Australia in December 1940 with the Queensland Headquarters, Unit and fought in the campaigns against German and Italian forces in Europe and North and Africa, between 26 December 1940 and 7 July 1945. In Libya, like his Aussies mates, Ray was called a ‘Rat of Tobruk’, a description inspired by Australian soldiers’ commitment and gallantry under the hard-line tactics of their commanders. Ray fought where shelling of the positions at Tobruk was quite frightening in an attempt to force enemies out of Libya. The Australian soldiers and the Allies attacked their besieges whenever they could. In one of the bitter combats there, Ray was captured and became a POW. However, the fierce siege of Tobruk ended in the Allies’ victory. In other bloody battles, Ray was wounded twice while fighting in Italy. During the campaigns, he was again captured by the enemy and became a POW in Italy and Germany. There he experienced suffering and agony, but also ‘survival’, both physical and emotional. On 11 May 1945, a Statement by the Repatriated Navy, Army or Air Force Prisoners of War recounted a graphic account of Ray’s experience as a POW:

In the Statement, Ray Hassan (POW number: 129913) reported that he was captured in April, 1941. In North Africa, he was ‘captured with about 100 of his battalion’. He was at a few local prison camps in Italy including Capua, Bolzano, Sulmona and Camp 57. He was a POW in Italy until 1943. He testified that the general living conditions in camps were scanty [with] ‘wooden beds, fibre wooden mattresses, poor lighting, and overcrowding’. Rations and cooking facilities were also of ‘poor quantity and quality and there were limited facilities’. Bathing, washing and sanitary facilities were also ‘limited’; Recreational facilities were ‘good’. In Italy for his work in prison he received a ‘remuneration of 1 lira per day’. He stated that clothing and footwear were ‘good, supplied by the Red Cross’, he also said that he received comfort from the Red Cross and mail regularly. He indicated that behaviour by the internment camp staff [apparently] was ‘fair’. In prison he saw ‘numerous’ Australians. As he was wounded, he received medical treatment by the First Aid Internment in Italy, Vercelli, on 14 May 1944. However, he reported that the quality of the Italian treatment was ‘inadequate’. In Germany he was interned in Stalag VI/A and Stalag VII/ A from 28 July 1944 until 8 December 1944. While in the German camp Ray described that the nature of the work was ‘strict cleaning’ and average work was ‘ten hours a day, a six-day week’. He received a remuneration of 10 pfennigs per day for four months.

In Australia, the first news received about his imprisonment in Italy was in July 1941. It was announced by the Catholic United Services’ Auxiliary, Queensland, and it also included the names of 55 Queenslanders on a list of 120 prisoners of war identified in Italy. The news about Ray would quickly multiply. In 1942, it was reported that ‘Ray Hassan is a POW at Camp 57, Posta Militare 3290, Italy’. In 1943, the news also reported: ‘Private Ray Hassan was at Campo 55 P.M. 3200’ leaving it on 7 April 1943. In the meantime, his comrade confirmed that Ray, who was well known to him, ‘was in good health and his spirits and morale were fine’. Ray Millen giving news of Private Ray Hassan, also forwarded £1 for a parcel to be sent to him. Then, Ray was a POW in a German camp. A word had been also received, publicised by his sister, saying that ‘Ray Hassan, was safe in England. He had been a prisoner in Germany...’. It was after imprisonment in Germany that Ray became a recovered POW in the UK on 9 May 1945. He embarked at Liverpool per HMT J 10 on 30 May 1945 and disembarked in Sydney on 7 July 1945. All information about Ray from the Catholic United Services’ Auxiliary, the newspapers, his comrade from his military unit and his sister reflect that he was not forgotten in difficult time.

As a POW, Ray suffered dreadful privations. He shared his experience of pitiful state with his uncle, a distinguished Afghan in Broken Hill, Bob Shamroze, who said ‘Ray got terrible scars on his back and had his toenails pulled out due to torture in concentration camps. He had a troubled life...’ Ray Hassan was issued the 1939/45 Star, the Africa Star, the War Medal, the Australian Service Medal, and the Return from Active Service Badge. After the war, Ray married Lily Zellica, the daughter of the Indian Muslim family, Fazulla whose brother Ab Fazulla also served in the Australian Army. A wedding was solemnised at the Oxide Street Methodist Church. Ray and his beloved wife made a new life with their home in Broken Hill. He continued to work by giving camel rides to tourists and to fix cars until the end of his life.

Dzavid Haveric, ‘A History of the Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2024.