CHANNELL, Douglas Ronald
| Service Number: | NX115 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 October 1939, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/1st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | London, England, 7 December 1909 |
| Home Town: | Padstow, Bankstown, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Radio announcer |
| Died: | Natural causes, Queensland, 25 May 1982, aged 72 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 25 Oct 1939: | Enlisted NX115, Sydney, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1939: | Enlisted NX115, 2nd/1st Infantry Battalion | |
| 5 Apr 1941: | Imprisoned "Operation Lustre" Greece 1941 | |
| 5 Jul 1946: | Discharged Captain, NX115, 2nd/1st Infantry Battalion | |
| 5 Jul 1946: | Discharged NX115, 2nd/1st Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Douglas Ronald Channell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Edwards
"Announcer chained in p.o.w. camp
After six years' on service, four as a war prisoner, "The Man on the Street," Sydney Radio announcer Doug. Channell, is back in Sydney. He was sent to a camp in Bulgaria, where all prisoners were in chains for 18 months. The ABC has asked him to revive his session as soon as he has had a holiday. Taken prisoner in Greece, he spent three months in solitary confinement for "insulting the German army" (Refusing to salute a guard and saying that he "didn't care to salute a lot of murderers,")
3000-mile talks.
After his release, Captain Channel spent eight months with the BBC and was announcer for the "Atlantic Spotlight" feature in which famous personalities in Britain talked with personalities in New York. On the ABC, for 18 months before the war, he introduced thousands of Australian people to the air, taking the microphone into city streets. A policeman once attempted to "move him on."
Channel led the constable into a discusson on traffic regulations. When he suddenly realised he was "on the air," the policeman fled, and "The Man on the Street" went on with his programme." - from the Sydney Sun 24 Feb 1946 (nla.gov.au)
Click images to start slideshow.