Francis Joseph (Frank) MCGOVERN OAM

MCGOVERN, Francis Joseph

Service Number: S3478
Enlisted: 30 August 1939
Last Rank: Able Seaman
Last Unit: HMAS Penguin (IV) 1939-1940/HMAS Brisbane 1940-1942/HMAS Moreton (I) 1942-1994 (Depot)
Born: Paddington, New South Wales, Australia, 1 October 1919
Home Town: Paddington, Woollahra, New South Wales
Schooling: Christian Brothers’ School, Edgecliff, then the Marist Brothers High School Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Winns Department Store, Oxford Street, Sydney then the Board of Water Supply, New South Wales, Australia
Died: Natural Causes, Randwick Rehabilitation Hospital, New South Wales, Australia, 24 May 2023, aged 103 years
Cemetery: Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, NSW
Babcock Gardens & Petal Border, Garden R1, Position 0346
Memorials: Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, East Fremantle HMAS Perth (I) Memorial
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World War 2 Service

30 Aug 1939: Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, S3478, HMAS Penguin (IV) 1939-1940/HMAS Brisbane 1940-1942/HMAS Moreton (I) 1942-1994 (Depot)
7 Mar 1946: Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, S3478, HMAS Penguin (IV) 1939-1940/HMAS Brisbane 1940-1942/HMAS Moreton (I) 1942-1994 (Depot)

Help us honour Francis Joseph McGovern's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Daryl Jones

Son of J.P. McGOVERN, Taylor Street, Paddington, NSW

As an able seaman on the guns on HMAS Perth, Frank McGovern was in the thick of it the night his ship was torpedoed by the Japanese in WW2. With other survivors, he was picked up by the enemy and sent to a POW camp in Java. Transported by the Japanese to Japan, he was torpedoed again, this time by the Americans and finally ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Yokohama. Frank’s story is characterised by humour, great courage, and a generous compassion for his fellow human beings.

Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia by the new Governor of NSW Margaret Beazley in 2019

The citation says it is for his work as founder of the HMAS Perth Association and HMAS Perth Prisoner of War Association; both associations he has served for a period of 15 years as secretary. As a long-serving member of the Coogee-Randwick-Clovelly sub-branch of the RSL, he also receives the medal for services to veterans and their families.

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