John Allan DUKE
Service
number: QX9594. Age:
20 years 9 months. Enlisted: 20 Jun 1940.
Occupation: Farm hand. Next of kin: (father) Mr Tom Kelsey Duke.
Address
on enlistment: Toorbul.
Lance Corporal John Duke
and Sergeant Jim Christensen, 2/15 Battalion,
at Vestey’s Meat Works (which was used as army barracks), Darwin, 1940.[1]
Service
Summary:
21 Jun 1940: 2 reinforcement 15 Australian
Infantry Battalion.
Jul 1940: Served in Darwin.
26 Dec 1940: Embarked from Sydney on Queen Mary for Middle East.
23 Jan 1943: Embarked from Egypt on Acquinata for Australia.
2 Aug 1943: Embarked for Milne Bay and New
Guinea operations.
“The 2/15th Infantry Battalion was raised
at Redbank army camp in Brisbane on 1 May 1940, as part of the 20th Brigade.
The battalion did its basic training at Redbank and went to Darwin to undertake
three months of garrison duty in July. It moved to Sydney in November and at
the end of the year sailed aboard the Queen Mary with the 20th Brigade to
Palestine via India, transhipping to the Rohna at Bombay.
The 20th Brigade transferred from the 7th
to the 9th Division en route to the Middle East. It arrived at El Kantara in
Egypt at the start of February 1941 and moved to Kilo 89 in Palestine for
desert training. At the end of the month the 2/15th travelled through the
Libyan Desert to the front line at Kilo 789 near Mersa Brega, including Mersa
Matruh, Bug Bug, Tobruk, Derna, Tocra, Benghazi, and Agedabia. The battalion
relieved elements of 6th Division, becoming the most advanced part of the line.
The 2/15th moved to Gabel El Gira on 27
March and then Barce. German forces had landed at Tripoli and were advancing
east. It was involved in the withdrawal of British forces to Tobruk, referred
to as the "Benghazi handicap". The withdrawal cost the battalion
heavily: the commanding officer, second in command, and 154 men were captured
at El Gazala.
The battalion moved to Hill 69 near Gaza
where it remained into 1942, before undertaking training and garrison duties in
Lebanon and Syria.
In early July 1942 the Second World War in
North Africa became critical for the British Eighth Army, when Axis forces
reached El Alamein in Egypt. The 9th Division rushed from Syria to the Alamein
area and held the northern sector for almost four months, while the British
Eighth Army reinforced under new a commander.
21
Aug 1942, Western Desert, Egypt: Composite guard of 2/13th
Australian
Infantry Battalion & 2/15th Australian Infantry Battalion during visit
of General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (M.E.).[2]
Infantry Battalion & 2/15th Australian Infantry Battalion during visit
of General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (M.E.).[2]
The 2/15th relieved the 2/28th Infantry
Battalion, holding the line from Hill 33 to the coast throughout August. On 1
September the 2/15th participated in Operation Bulimba, designed to test
tactics and strategies for the upcoming battle. The fighting was vicious and
the battalion suffered 183 casualties - about half its fighting strength. From
23 October to 4 November it fought with the brigade during the battle of
Alamein.
The 9th Division was recalled to Australia
to face a new enemy - the Japanese. The 2/15th left Egypt aboard the Acquitania on 25 January 1943 and
disembarked at Sydney on 27 February. After leave and jungle training on the
Atherton Tablelands in Queensland it embarked for Milne Bay in Papua on 2
August 1943.
On 4 September the battalion landed on Red
Beach, 15 miles north-west of Lae. Shortly after it fought its way ashore at
Scarlet Beach near Finschhafen and defended the area against Japanese
counter-attack. The battalion also took part in the Huon Peninsula campaign,
advancing along the northern coast of New Guinea from Lae to Sio.”[3]
See also JM Band and reference to Scarlet
Beach.
16 Mar 1945: Discharged.
Life
Summary:
John Allen Duke (1919-1975) was born 14 Sep 1919 in Kent,
England to Thomas Kelsey Duke (1894-1960) and Ada May Webb (b. 1896). The Duke
family emigrated to Australia in 1925 and took up land at Meldale near Toorbul
on Pumicestone Passage. Tom Kelsey Duke named his property Creeklands because
it was bounded by Bullock Creek on the north and Elimbah Creek on the south.
John Duke had noted on his attestation form
that he had seen soldiers from the 9/49 Battalion, probably in May 1939 when
soldiers from 9/49 Battalion were training[4]
while in camp at Caloundra.
After his military service, John returned
to Creeklands and his occupation of farmer. In 1952 he married Ailsa Hazel
Hardy (1930-2007) and the couple raised their family at Creeklands.
John Duke died 12 Aug 1975, aged 54, and
was buried in King Street cemetery, Caboolture where there is a memorial plaque
for him and later for his wife.
John Duke is fondly remembered by his
younger sister Hazel Bishop nee Duke. Hazel Bishop now lives on Bribie Island
and is very proud of John’s military service, particularly his service as a
“Rat of Tobruk”.
Hazel Bishop nee Duke, aged 93, in her home
on Bribie Island, 9 Mar 2017, and on the shelf
is a framed photo (1940) of her
beloved brother John Duke in his soldier’s uniform.
[1] Courtesy of the
Australian War Memorial P00092.026 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C47140 [BIHS note:
AWM record caption has Lieutenant John Duke however service record indicates
Lance Corporal.]
[2] Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial 024882 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C8664
[3] Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56058
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