MCGOVERN, Francis Joseph
Service Number: | S3478 |
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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 |
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) | |
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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.
Add my storyBiography 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.