SOLDIERS, SEAMAN, AIRMEN, POWS:

AS even the most casual visitor to any Australian bush town can attest, the prominence and dedication to our war memorials shows the continuing and genuine commitment in recognising the efforts of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

This is no coincidence, because from the Sudan Campaign nearly 140 years ago in 1885, through the Boer War, the Great War, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and dozens of peace-keeping missions in-between, it is country people who have provided the bulk of our armed forces.

With 50 former Dubbo High School students having died in World War II alone, it is no surprise that their fatality rate was double the national average. This is due to a higher per centage having served on the frontline and in very dangerous military operations such as Bomber Command, a testament to giving their all when they signed up and volunteering for the most dangerous of missions; not seeking the safer options,.

Such an example is young John Joseph Mccullough who had two army enlistments, firstly in February 18, 1942, having said that he had been born on January 15, 1923 when in fact he was born two years later.

Having served gallantly on the Kokoda Track during 1942, in January, 1943, he was discharged from the Army for being underage. He then reenlisted on July 29, 1943, and was later killed in action on the New Guinea island of Bougainville in April, 1945.

Two close friends, Frederick Dennis and Charles Digges DFC joined the RAAF at the same time, and were killed within a week of each other, and there were also two sets of brothers and brothers-in-law among the ex-students who died during the war.

Nineteen ex-students also became POWS, with six ex-students dying as POWS, mostly under the cruel yoke of the Japanese Imperial Army.

Surprisingly, more than half those who died were in the Royal Australia Air Force (RAAF), a likely result of our proximity to the RAAF’S No. 5 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at Narromine where thousands of young men learnt to fly during the War.

Royal Australian Navy

 Gregory Wade Benham DSC. POW (J). Gregory was a “coastwatcher” in the New Guinea islands and was captured and executed on September 1, 1942.

 Kenneth James Fryer died when all 645 Australian sailors on the HMAS Sydney II perished after being sunk by a German naval warship on November 20, 1941, in the Indian Ocean.

 James Ross Williams died from injuries received in a motor accident in Japan on June 3, 1947, whilst on active service.

Australian Army

 Robert Dugald Booth was in the 2/5th Independent Company when he died from liver cancer in September, 1943, whilst on active service.

 Athol Robert Burge was killed in action in Bougainville on April 5, 1945.

 John (Jack) Eddy was killed in action in Borneo on July 6, 1945.

 Frederick Balte Emanuel was also killed in action on Borneo July 2, 1945.

 Harold Boyer Giles was in the 2/18th Battalion and was killed in action at Tengah in Singapore while defending the airport on February 9, 1942.

 Thomas Roderick Jones was in the 2/6th Armoured Regiment with Reginald Leggatt and was killed in action during the battle at Buna, Papua New Guinea on December 24, 1942.

 Percival Ross Kelly was in the 2/30th Battalion and is presumed to have been killed in action in Singapore on February 10, 1942.

 Reginald John Lance died from illness in New Guinea on December 26, 1945.

 Reginald George Leggatt died from his war wounds on December 25, 1942, which were received during the battle at Buna, Papua New Guinea, the previous day.

 John Joseph Mccullough was killed in action at Bougainville, Papua New Guinea on April 28, 1945.

 Keith James Phillips was killed in action on January 1, 1943, near Buna, Papua New Guinea.

 Frederick Herbert Sadler. POW (J). Frederick was in the 1st Independent Company and was captured soon after Rabaul fell on January 23, 1942, and died when the MS Montevideo Maru was sunk by an American submarine on July 1, 1942.

 Edward Colin Slip. POW (J). Died at the Sandakan POW Camp in Borneo from illness on March 17, 1945.

 Owen Upcott Williams MBE, MID was killed in action at Aitape, Papua New Guinea on July 3, 1945.

 Arthur Ernest Wright. MID. POW (E) Arthur died when he drowned trying to escape from a German POW camp on September 1, 1944. He had been a member of the Australian 6th Division which tried to stop Germany from invading Greece and Crete in 1941. His brother James also died during WWII.

Third in our series as we approach Anzac Day recognising our veterans’ selfless sacrifices. We provide a comprehensive list of Dubbo High School students who paid the ultimate price to protect their country during World War II

Royal Australian Air Force

 Kenneth John Nielsen (Bill) Apitz was killed in a flying battle over Ireland on June 19, 1944 and is buried in Northern Ireland. Bruce Astley was a flying in

structor in Britain and was killed in a flying school accident on January 28, 1942. Ernest Douglas Bayley was killed in a plane accident at Long Point, near Sale, Victoria, on June 9, 1942, and is buried at Old Dubbo Cemetery.

 George Samuel Crawford Bell was killed in a flying battle over the Netherlands on September 18, 1944.

 Kenneth Rupert Bruce was killed in a flying battle off the British coast on March 23, 1945. He was the brother-in-law of Gregory Wade Benham DSC who married his sister, Lillian.

 Frederick William Dennis was killed in a flying battle in Libya on December 14, 1941.

 Charles Richardson Digges DFC died on December 18, 1941, as a member of the crew of a Hudson bomber that crashed to the ground near the RAF Oulton Air Base in Norfolk, England.

 James Blackman Donohoe was killed in a flying battle over northwest Europe on June 11, 1943.

 Frederick Max Donohoe was killed in a plane crash in Britain on March 25, 1942, after returning from a bombing mission. Frederick and James Donohoe were brothers.

 Maxwell Dunbar was killed in a flying battle over Corsica, France, on April 25, 1944.

 Edward Maxwell England (DFC) was killed in an aircraft accident near Brantingham-brough, Yorkshire, England on February 25, 1945.

 Arthur David Fryer was killed in a flying battle over Germany on November 4, 1944.

 John (Jock) Douglas Gardiner was killed as a result of two aircraft colliding in a gunnery exercise 10 miles west of the Port Pirie aerodrome in South Australia on August 27, 1943.

 Russell Allen Pera Jones was killed in a flying battle over France on May 30, 1942.

 Barrington Armitage Knyvett DFC died as a member of the crew of a Lancaster bomber which crashed soon after take-off from the RAF Binbrook Air Base, Britain on January 2, 1944.

 Alan Llewellyn was killed when the plane he was piloting struck a fuel tanker at the end of the aerodrome at Laverton, Victoria, on March 7, 1942.

 Trevor Hopetoun Mcilveen was killed in a flying battle over Germany on April 29, 1942.

 William Malcolm Mcleod was killed in a flying battle over Papua New Guinea on April 11, 1945.

 Rawdon Hume (Ron) Middleton VC died on November 29, 1942 in the English Channel after returning most of his crew safely back to England. They had just completed a bombing mission over Turin, Italy. For his extraordinary actions in saving his crew and preventing his crippled aircraft from crashing into civilian houses in England, Middleton was awarded the Victoria Cross.

 George Arthur Mills was killed on May 23, 1943, during a German air raid on the RAF Bournemouth Air Force Base in England.

 Maurice Meredith Mitchell died from illness at Darwin on January 19, 1945.

 Mervyn Henry Morgan was killed in a plane crash at Tookenham Court Farm, near Lyneham, Britain on October 24, 1941.

 Allan Gordon Munro was on an air patrol looking for Japanese

submarines off the Queensland coast on December 27, 1944, and was never seen again.

 James Campbell Osborne died from illness in the Middle East on September 25, 1941.

 Lionel Ernest Parkes was killed in a flying accident at Cape York, Queensland, on January 2, 1944.

 John Maxwell Robertson was killed in a flying battle over Belgium on April 25, 1944.

 Bertram James Stanford was killed in a flying battle over Burma on May 19, 1943.

 Edmond Macleod Stevenson. POW (J) died in the Dutch East Indies on April 14, 1945.

 John William Taylor was killed in a flying battle over Germany on September 5, 1943. Germany.

 Lindsay Ross Williams was killed in air operations in transit to the United Kingdom from the Middle East at Jenkinstown, Kilkenny, Ireland on March 16, 1942.

 James Stewart (Stuart) Wright was killed in a flying battle over France on March 16, 1944.

Civilian Internee

 John William Poole. POW (J). The Rev John Poole was a Methodist missionary on the New Guinea island of New Britain who was captured by the Japanese when Rabaul fell on January 23, 1942. Along with Frederick Sadler and more than 1000 other Australians he died when the MS Montevideo Maru was sunk by an American submarine on July 1, 1942. The wreck of the Montevideo Maru was found on April 18, 2023, in the South China Sea.

PHOTO: AWM Survivor! Informal group portrait of A Company 2/18th Battalion in front of huts in Malaya in 1941. Local Dubbo boy Pte Carl George Von Schill is second row, second from left. He survived being a POW of the Japanese. Almost all the young men in the photo, however, either died in combat, as prisoners, or survived the war as POW’S of the Japanese following the surrender of Singapore in February 1942.