Researched WWII Australian Service Medal 1939-1945 to Crete P.O.W.

[Guest Darrell]

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Edited November 8, 2009 by Darrell
Darrell's change of thread title/ content

[Guest Darrell]

2. Australian WW2 Service Medal

Thanks to Michael I managed to snag this one named to a Lindsay James Parsons (NX7197) part of the 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance.

I was lucky in his service records were available on-line (of which I will show a few of the important pages).

The interesting thing about this fellow is he was sent to Greece in March 1941 just prior to the German invasion. He was eventually evacuated to Crete and it was there on approximately May 23, 1941 he was taken prisoner.

He was interned in Italy and then finally sent to Germany in December 1943 and held at Stalag 18A.

Medal Obverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse:

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Engraving:

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A map of the area that Parsons would have been taken prisoner (see red circle).

[Guest Darrell]

Service Record 1:

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Service Record 2:

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Service and Casualty Form 1:

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Service and Casualty Form 2:

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Service and Casualty Form 3:

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Statement of Service:

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Attestation Form:

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Letter application for his medals. He also asked for those of his brother who was also taken prisoner at the same time.

[Guest Darrell]

Some information I dug up on the internet with regards to Field Ambulance units in Greece and Crete during this time.

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2/1 Australian Field Ambulance ? Greece / Crete April ? May 1941

In March 1941, Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, with the concurrence of his Cabinet, agreed to the sending of Australian troops to Greece. Both Menzies and the Australian commander in the Middle East, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Blamey, felt that the operation was risky and might end in disaster. But Menzies, like the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, felt that Greece should be supported against German aggression and that the defence of Greece was a 'great risk in a good cause'.

In Greece, the Australians joined with a New Zealand and British force to defend the country against a threatened German invasion. Hitler was concerned that if Greece became a British ally then oilfields in Romania, on which Germany relied for her fuel, might be open to air attack from Greece. As the Germans were planning an invasion of Russia for June 1941, they could not allow such a threat to their essential oil supplies.

The 6th Division arrived in Greece in early April 1941 and on 6 April the Germans began their invasion of Greece. Despite their efforts, the Allied force, together with Greek units, was unable to halt the rapid German advance down central Greece towards Athens. After a month of intensive fighting, the Allied force was evacuated from the Greek mainland on British and Australian warships and British transports. Some soldiers were taken back to Egypt but many were put ashore on the island of Crete. Here, with Greek troops, they formed 'Creforce' and prepared to meet the Germans, who came on 20 May 1941 in the shape of a major paratroop landing at three different places along the north coast of the island. Despite vigorous opposition to the Germans, the Allied force had eventually to be withdrawn, once again by British and Australian warships and by 29 May the island had fallen.

Greece and Crete were costly operations. About 39 per cent of the Australia troops in Greece on 6 April 1941 were either killed, wounded or became prisoners of war. On Crete, 274 Australians were killed, 507 were wounded and 3109 were captured (of which 242 died while POW?s) including most of the 2/1st, 2/7th and 2/11th Battalions.

GREECE

4 Field Ambulance (less B Company) withdrew on 22 April with 4 Brigade to positions 15 miles south of Thebes, where, in company with a mixed force of Australians and field artillery, defensive lines were established to cover the passes between Boeotia and Attica. Massed convoys moving on the roads made this journey of 80-odd miles most difficult, but by 6 a.m. on 23 April the unit got under cover alongside 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance. As this latter unit had already opened up, 4 Field Ambulance remained closed and awaited further orders. Complete concealment from air activity was enforced, not so much to avoid casualties as not to give away the considerable troop concentrations in the area. At 6 a.m. on 25 April B Company rejoined the unit, having withdrawn with 6 Brigade to which it had been attached since the 22nd. One officer and 16 men of B Company, who retired with the rearguard of 6 Brigade and safely reported to Headquarters 4 Field Ambulance, overran in the night the area occupied by their own company south of Thebes and were eventually taken prisoner.

Orders from HQ NZ Division instructed 4 Field Ambulance to withdraw with 6 Brigade, while 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance was to remain to serve 4 Brigade. Fourth Field Ambulance supplemented the stretcher-bearers of 4 Brigade with an NCO and 16 men. On the afternoon of Anzac Day 4 Field Ambulance prepared to withdraw, this time south of the Corinth Canal, west of Athens. The move began at 7 p.m. and the unit crossed the canal at three o'clock next morning, passed through the bombed and burning town of Corinth, and reached a dispersal area off the main road in an irrigation area at 6.30 a.m. That morning the troops received much attention from the Luftwaffe, which combed the area, flying low over the rows of trees where the men were resting and systematically machine-gunning under them. The reason became evident later?it was a blitz designed to keep our men grounded while the Germans dropped their parachutists by the hundred and took possession of the Corinth Canal.

The Royal Navy was able to arrange to take off all the brigade group from Porto Rafti beach on the night of 27?28 April. These troops, too, went to Crete, with 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance and the NCO and 16 stretcher-bearers from 4 Field Ambulance accompanying them.

CRETE

From 5 Field Ambulance at Modhion some of the wounded were evacuated by ambulance car, and the first party of walking wounded and some of the staff of the unit set off on foot at 3 a.m. on 23 May for the former site of 6 Field Ambulance at the junction of the Canea and Galatas roads. The coastal road to the east was pitted here and there with small craters, littered with dead donkeys and telephone wires and the debris of shattered farm vehicles and of damaged houses in which isolated groups of parachutists had sought to control the road. Transport had been arranged by Headquarters 5 Brigade for the stretcher cases, but because of the bombing of the road some Cypriot drivers had abandoned their trucks or else had not proceeded to Modhion. An officer of Headquarters 5 Brigade, Captain Coutts,1 managed to marshal trucks by dawn, just when preparations were being made for some of the wounded to be left behind under the care of a section of the medical staff. It was then possible to clear the dressing station entirely. The convoy proceeded in broad daylight, under Red Cross flags, unmolested by enemy aircraft which were already about in fair numbers. The walking wounded were taken to 7 General Hospital in the caves on the foreshore, while the stretcher cases were unloaded at 189 Field Ambulance hospital at Khalepa, a northeastern suburb of Canea. (This British field ambulance had been called upon to establish a temporary hospital to take the overflow of wounded from 7 General Hospital. By utilising a school, a convent, and a number of adjacent houses, the unit eventually held as many as 460 cases. Major Christie, NZMC, was transferred from 7 General Hospital to do the surgical work and succeeded in improvising a first-class operating theatre.)

Fifth Field Ambulance occupied the area used by 6 Field Ambulance up to the time of its capture; the latter unit at this time was functioning in a culvert about a mile further along the road towards Canea. During the morning the 5 Field Ambulance site was subjected to a particularly heavy attack of bombing and machine-gunning, the site being near an important road junction. One death was sustained by the unit as a result of the attack. Information had been received that heavy casualties were to be expected from 5 Brigade's front and, as it was impossible for the unit to carry on where it was, it was decided to open up in the officers' mess building, well down towards the beach, on the 7 General Hospital site. The changeover was made by midday on the 23rd.

At dawn on 24 May 5 MDS had been cleared of all casualties with the exception of eight wounded prisoners of war. This complete evacuation had followed a visit from Colonel Bull, acting ADMS NZ Division, the previous evening, with news that an attack on the area was expected. While the remainder of the staff went to caves on the foreshore for much-needed rest, a nucleus of the MDS staff ? including the CO ? remained in the building during 24 May, a quiet day on which only eight casualties were admitted. Aerial activity had continued throughout the day, but the Germans were waiting for further reinforcements for their ground forces to come from Maleme airfield before making a major attack.

At Nerokourou an MDS was established and worked through the day of 26 May, with both field ambulances and the surgical team from 7 General Hospital all assisting. Then DDMS Creforce (Col Kenrick) ordered 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance to establish a temporary hospital at Kalivia, and as the medical units at Nerokourou were to move back as part of the general withdrawal, they were ordered to send their patients to Kalivia. The seriously wounded were sent there in trucks while the walking wounded went on foot. Eventually some 530 patients collected there, and when next night it was obvious that further withdrawal was inevitable, some of these were taken south in trucks while some set out on foot. About 300 had to be left behind, many of them New Zealanders, in the charge of an Australian medical officer and some orderlies.

During the night 2/1 Australian Field Ambulance had, on receipt of orders from DDMS Creforce, established a temporary hospital in the school buildings in the village of Kalivia. It received 100 cases from 5 Field Ambulance and stretcher cases and walking wounded from 6 Field Ambulance, as they reached the village. This Australian unit was soon coping with 530 patients.

2/1 Field ambulance surrendered on Crete after fighting a rear guard action against the Germans there were 16 members of this unit that became POW's.

Edited April 2, 2009 by Darrell

[Pagan]

Nice service history darrell.

Being from NZ its nice to see.

[Paul R]

Darrell,

That is a great set of medals with a really interesting history! I hope that you are able to find the missing medals.

Paul

[Guest Darrell]

Thanks guys.

It would be nice to find the others, but these endevours usually turn into finding a needle in a haystack :(

[Michael Johnson]

I just picked up a named Australian Defence Medal to NX7018 Sergeant Cornelius McMahon, who strangely enough, was also with 2/1st Field Ambulance. He was luckier than Parsons, as he is not shown as P.o.W.

I've ordered his service record, but since it has not yet been vetted for release, it will be awhile (up to 90 days) before it becomes available.

[Michael Johnson]

The papers are now available. Like Parsons, McMahon went to Greece, but was evacuated to Egypt, not Crete. He reurned to Australia via Ceylon, and saw service in New Guinea (Aitape-Wewak) with the 6th Division. There is not medal entitlement notation, but from his record it would have been:

1939-45 Star

Africa Star

Pacific Star

Defence Medal

War Medal

Australia Service Medal.

He served until 1947, including service with the Occupation Force in Japan.

[Guest Darrell]

Interesting stuff Michael. You still ordering the paper work?

[Michael Johnson]

The papers are online now - but there are only 12pp. It would be a great group if one could find the other five medals :banger: