Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles John Mitchell was born 24 Sep 1912 at Bulimba in Brisbane the 2nd of 8 children of Henry & Annie Mitchell. When Charles was 4 years old his father served in WW1. There is a lovely story about him and his service on the Virtual War Memorial Australia website. https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/255030
The first record I have found for Charles in the 1937 Qld electoral roll and he was living and working at Gayndah as a labourer.
On 4 Jun 1940 Charles enlisted in the Australian Army at Maryborough giving his father as next of Kin but his permanent address c/- G B Jacobson, Wooroolin. The WW11 Nominal Roll record for Charles shows the spelling of Wooroolin as WAVAULIN - wow that is quite a different spelling!
Charles trained in Redbank with the 2/15 Australian Infantry Battalion before they went to Darwin to undertake three months of garrison duty in July. It moved to Sydney in November and at the end of the year sailed aboard the Queen Mary with the 20th Brigade to Palestine via India, transhipping to the Rohna at Bombay.
The 2/15th moved to Gabel El Gira on 27 March and then Barce. German forces had landed at Tripoli and were advancing east. It was involved in the withdrawal of British forces to Tobruk, referred to as the "Benghazi handicap". The withdrawal cost the battalion heavily: the commanding officer, second in command, and 154 men were captured at El Gazala. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56058
Our Charles Mitchell was one of the 154 men captured not even a full year after his enlistment! His Army records are available on the NAA website and show that during 1941 he was moved between many different POW camps before being sent to Germany on 7 Nov 1941 and was finally released on 7 Apr 1945! A whole 3 ½ years as a POW. I guess the good news is that it was in Europe rather than Asia! Charles was sent to the UK to recover until he was sent back to NSW, He was finally discharged from the army on 8 Feb 1946.
I found him on the 1949 & 1954 Qld electoral Rolls in Brisbane then in 1958 he was back at Wooroolin, presumably working for the Jacobson family! In 1968 Charles was living at Whinstones, Brisbane with his brother Edwin and after that I cannot find him anywhere – not even a death record.
Most of his siblings are buried at Balmoral Cemetery in Brisbane but there is no record for Charles.
Lest We Forget