In the Second World War my Dad,
Allan John Curry, served in the 2/7 Field Regiment. I checked to see if
Trove could shed any light on his regiment.
As my blog is archived on Pandora I found a couple of my blog posts in the results. This post should join them when it is next archived.
Dad was in the Regiment in Borneo in 1945. This photo",
SADAU ISLAND, BORNEO. 1945-04-30., from the Australian War Memorial Collection. shows
EQUIPMENT COMING OFF LANDING CRAFT MEDIUM FOR 2/7 FIELD REGIMENT. I wonder if Dad and his mates were there for the unloading.
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| https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/090917/ |
Dad was definitely a gunner in Tarakan at the time of this photo, TARAKAN, BORNEO. 1945-05-06. DEFENCE POSITIONS OF 2/7 FIELD REGIMENT, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARMY, ON THE WESTERN END OF RIPPON FEATURE OVERLOOKING STRIPS TOWARDS THE WEST.
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| https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/091910/ |
I wasn't able to find a photo labelled with my father's name but several of the photos like this one,
| TARAKAN ISLAND, BORNEO, 1945-05-02. GUNS 1 AND 2 OF CORPS TROOP, 2/7 FIELD REGIMENT, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARTILLERY SHELLING TARGETS BEYOND THE AIRSTRIP DURING THE FIGHTING FOR TARAKAN HILL AND OILFIELDS. IDENTIFIED PERSONNEL ARE:- GUNNER W.V. BRYANT, (1); GUNNER D. ARNOLD, (2); GUNNER J.H.J. HAUSEN, (3); SERGEANT L. BICKLEY, (4), give me an idea of the environment in which he worked during the conflict. |
Most of the newspaper articles mentioning the regiment related to social activities, the welfare committee, individuals' stories and postwar activities. The following tributes remind us of the cost of war.
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| 1946 'Family Notices', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 27 May, p. 14. , viewed 25 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35696591 |
I also discovered that there was a regimental history history written in 1952 and that it is held in our State Library of NSW. Here is the bibliographic record from Trove.
Title
- The history of the 2/7 Australian Field Regiment / edited and written by David Goodhart.
Author
- Goodhart, David, 1899-1972?
Published
Content Types
Carrier Types
Physical Description
- xix, 380 p., [24] p. of plates : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.
Subjects
Notes
- Maps on lining papers.
- Includes index.
- Approved by the Official War Historian, Canberra, A.C.T.
Cited In
- Trigellis-Smith, S. Shaping history : a bibliography of Australian army unit histories, 549
- Dornbusch, C.E. Australian military bibliography, 445
Other Form
- Online version Goodhart, David. History of the 2/7 Australian Field Regiment. Adelaide, Distribution: Rigby [1952]
Language
Dewey Number
Libraries Australia ID
Contributed by
Libraries AustraliaTrove also carries several articles about the author and publication of the above work.
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| 1951 'War Unit History', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 12 October, p. 3. , viewed 25 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45791031 |
2 comments:
Hello-my father was with the Regiment too and the Association celebrated the 75th anniversary of the second Battle of El Alamein last week here in Perth. Sadly the last surviving member of the regiment in WA passed away earlier this year well into his nineties and I understand there may only be 1 surviving member of the Regiment left in Australia. I have some bits and pieces of information my father kept including many photos from the Middle East and a '1 liner diary' he kept there as well as a few accounts of 'incidents' on Tarakan which was a nasty and vicious campaign.
You might like to try and get hold of a copy of 'Tarakan-an Australian Tragedy' written by Dr Peter Stanley-former historian of the AWM if you haven't already.
Thanks Paul. I will definitely seek out a copy of that book.
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