Great item with fantastic history.
Regards,
Jerry
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
Great item with fantastic history.
Regards,
Jerry
Regards,
Jerry
Whateverits just an opinion.
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
great find, that truly is a gem, you certainly can find 'em....hope the research is going well
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
by AIF;302302
Two of my great uncles both served in C company 14 platoon 2/48th Batt
WX26700 Sapper Alexander William (Bill) Jeffery
WX26699 private Owen Robert Prosser
Note their service numbers are one digit apart, but on the records they enlisted 10 days apart, according to my Grandfather (Bills younger brother) they didnt even know each other at the time and it wasnt until years later that my Grandfather met my grandmother (Owens younger sister) and they got married, I was talking to him not long ago about this and I mentioned to him what a coincidence this was, and he replied by saying thats not the half of it, when Bill was wounded by a Japanese grenade at Tarakan he was pinned down by Japanese machine gun fire and couldnt move, he had been hit pretty badly in the face with shrapnel and had lost his vision, Owen was the bloke that braved the incoming fire and grabbed him and saved his life!! crazy stuff
amazing story! thanks for sharing its always great to hear or see anything from my grandfathers battalion. check out the 2/48th war diaries at the awm web site as well
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
amazing story! thanks for sharing its always great to hear or see anything from my grandfathers battalion. check out the 2/48th war diaries at the awm web site as well
Ive had a read through the 2/48th diaries a while ago, but unfortunately they usually only name the officers, but Im pretty sure I found the entry about when Bill was wounded, the platoon got beat up pretty badly that day, the Japs were above them on a steep slope and raking them with machine gune fire then when the platoon got closer to them the Japs rolled grenades down onto them and I think one or two were killed and two were badly wounded, of which I would say one was my uncle (still have to pull his records to confirm though but it was the only action were 14 pl had wounded from grenades) It was a pretty bad dy for them, one of their sergeants was wounded on 4 seperate occasions through that day, he later recieved the DCM for his actions.
Another thing I remember was their platoon commander (I think his name was Lt. Mortimer) was shot through the jaw on the first day... poor bugger
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
yeah its unfortunate about the tarakan section of the diaries as they dont list the "other ranks" casualties...the earlier diaries from tobruk and alamein somtimes do. still an excellent reference
Re: Afrikakorps cuff title captured by Tom Diver Derrick VC DCM AIF Sx7964 2nd48th bat.
Incredible pick up ! I have walked up the main road from Finschhafen to the top of Mount Satelberg, where there is an observatory (or at least there
was one in 1972), I picked up a relic Japanese helmet from the back gate of the observatory, much to the surprise of the man on duty there at the
time, he said he must have walked past it a thousand times and never noticed it ! (it was under a bush right next to the gate, and still with the star on the front of the helmet). That is rugged territory, and is where 'Diver' Derrick won his VC. There was still wrecked Japanese trucks at the bottom of the road, where they had been pushed off during the war. (there may have been a Japanese tank too, I can't recall now). I was there at the time with the Australian Army (1972).
I would love to see more of his items from the desert too.....
Best wishes
Bob
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