SHAILER, Norman Charles
Service Number: | QX23212 |
---|---|
Enlisted: | 5 August 1941 |
Last Rank: | Private |
Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
Born: | KINGAROY, QLD, 24 September 1914 |
Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
Memorials: | Wooroolin WW2 Roll of Honour |
World War 2 Service
5 Aug 1941: | Involvement QX23212 | |
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5 Aug 1941: | Enlisted | |
5 Aug 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX23212 | |
5 Oct 1944: | Discharged | |
5 Oct 1944: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX23212 |
Norman Charles Shailer - QX23212 – Wooroolin WW11 Honour Board
I contacted the Dept of Veteran Affairs to check his regiment and received response: I have checked Mr Shailer’s records and found that the 5 Armoured Regt was not his discharge Unit. He was with 5 Armoured Regt while he was training. His last effective posting was Headquarters New Guinea Force (he was a Cook). The change will appear on our website early in May 2022 when the data on the site is again refreshed.
So now we have 3 men on the Wooroolin WW11 Nominal Roll in the HQ New Guinea Force – Ray Moore, John Ovens and Mick Shailer.
New Guinea Force was a military command unit for Australian, United States and native troops from the Territories of Papua and New Guinea serving in the New Guinea campaign during World War II. Formed in April 1942, when the Australian First Army was formed from the Australian I Corps after it returned from the Middle East, it was responsible for planning and directing all operations within the territory up until October 1944. General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area Operational Instruction No.7 of 25 May 1942, issued by Commander-Allied-Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, placed all Australian and US Army, Air Force and Navy Forces in the Port Moresby Area under the control of New Guinea Force. Over the course of its existence, New Guinea Force was commanded by some of the Australian Army's most notable commanders, including Sydney Rowell, Sir Edmund Herring and Sir Leslie Morshead. General Sir Thomas Blamey also commanded the force in 1942 while based in Port Moresby. (en)
Submitted 8 April 2022 by Carol Berry
Norman Charles Shailer - QX23212 – Wooroolin WW11 Honour Board
Norman Charles Shailer, known as Mick, was born 24 Sep 1914 at Kingaroy, the 4th of 14 children of George & Ethel Shailer. George owned Por 472 in the Parish of Wooroolin. This property is on the junction of Shailers Rd & Recreation Rd, Memerambi. I think George settled there about 1917ish having lived at Taabinga Village previously. Mick Shailer attended Wooroolin School, pupil No 620, with his brother George in 1927 when he was 12 years old.
Mick’s Uncle, William Shailer, was the first selector in the scrubland then called 'Mimmeramby'-Wooroolin area in 1896. His grandson, Ned Lamperd, has an amazing memory for a 96 year old and has helped with this story.
Mick Shalier, aged 26, joined the Australian Army on 5 Aug 1941 at Maryborough. He was living at Wooroolin and per the electoral rolls as a Farmer not a Farm Hand. Mick’s army records are not yet available on the NAA website but per the WW11 Nominal Roll records he was serving in the 5th Armd Regiment (presume Armoured) when discharged on 5 Oct 1944.
I have not been able to find a 5th Armoured Regiment during WW11 so I am thinking it is the 2/5th Armoured Regiment which was an armoured regiment of the Australian Army. Raised for service during World War II, the regiment was formed in 1941 and disbanded at the end of the war in 1945 without having been deployed outside of Australia. The 2/5th Armoured Regiment was formed on 26 July 1941 as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War the 2/5th Armoured Regiment was equipped with Universal Carriers to train as a light armoured unit. The regiment was re-equipped with 52 M3 Grant medium tanks on April 1942,[5] and moved to Edgeroi, New South Wales in August to conduct large-scale exercises with the rest of the 1st Armoured Division. Although the regiment was initially selected to support the 7th Division during the liberation of Balikpapan in July 1945 it was replaced by the Matilda II-equipped 1st Armoured Regiment shortly before it would have embarked for the operation. Later they were earmarked for deployment as part of Operation Zipper, but the war ended before the operation was commenced.[13] The 2/5th Armoured Regiment was disbanded in September 1945 which fits with the discharge date of Mick Shailer.
Mick married Ivy Schmaling at Kingaroy in Jan 1945. They lived at Crawford share farming for many years before living in Ironpot, Kingaroy then back to West Wooroolin. Thanks to Sue Robins I learnt that Mick and Ivy (in their later life) lived in the house on Peterson’s farm when Dave Ogilvy owned the farm. He always had a beautiful vegetable garden.
Mick died in 2001 at Wondai and is buried at Memerambi Cemetery where he joined his wife who had died in 1994.
Lest We Forget
Submitted 4 April 2022 by Carol Berry