Soldier profiles

Name : ATKINSON, NORMAN HAROLD
Service Number : VX20738
Date of Birth : 04/11/1907
Place of Birth : GEELONG, VIC
Known as :
Occupation on Enlistment : FARMER
Date of Enlistment : 31/05/1940
Locality on Enlistment : POOWONG, VIC
Place of Enlistment : CAULFIELD, VIC
Next of Kin : ATKINSON, NORMAN
Rank (at time of discharge / death) : PRIVATE
Service : ARMY
Final Posting : 2/2 PIONEER BATTALION
Position / Platoon / Company (as 2/2 Pioneer) (date / details) : D COMPANY
Unit Transfers / Promotions (date / details) :
Theatres of War : SYRIA, JAVA
Actions :
Wounded (date / details) :
Discharged : N/A
Date Died : 05/08/1943
Age at Death : 35
Community Roll of Honour : KORUMBURRA (VIC)
Buried Location / Memorial (P.O.W., D.O.W., K.I.A.) : SINGAPORE MEMORIAL, SINGAPORE. COLUMN 137. / AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL COMMEMORATIVE AREA PANEL 72
K.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
D.O.W. (date / details) : N/A
M.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
P.O.W. (location/s) : JAVA
Died P.O.W. (date / details) : 05/08/1943 / PRESUMED DROWNED, CEREBRAL MALARIA / 55 KILO CAMP (BURMA)
P.O.W. Camps (details) : THAILAND
Recovered P.O.W. (location/s) : NO
Honours and Gallantry : None for display
Applicable Australian War Memorial circulars : Australian War Memorial B-JAVA-0004 Missing & POW Circular
References found (entries & photos) : National Archives of Australia (Barcode 6214184 [DIGITISED], Barcode 32459058 [OPEN]), WW2 Nominal Roll, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Australian War Memorial, Past article (size 1333kB)

Background : Son of Norman Harold and Helen Anette Atkinson, of Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. 09/03/1942 Reported missing in action. 26/03/1942 Reported captured. 13/04/1942 Moved to Bicycle Camp, Batavia. 08/10/1942 Left Batavia. 12/12/1942 Arrived Singapore. 14/10/1942 Left Singapore. 24/10/1942 Arrived Burma with Williams Force. 13/07/1943 Admitted to 55 Kilo Camp Base Hospital with dysentery. 05/08/1943 Reported missing believed drowned at 55 Kilo Camp.

Service & personal summary At enlistment : single. Previous military experience at Surrey Hills, Victoria. Blue eyes, brown hair. Marks / scars : scar right toe.

Service record
31/05/1940 Taken on strength Recruit Reception Depot Caulfield, Victoria.
03/06/1940 Posted to 2/2 Pioneer Battalion Puckapunyal, Seymour, Victoria.
21/05/1941 Marched into Engineering Training Depot from Absent Without Leave (AWOL) ex 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
23/06/1941 Transferred to Pioneer Wing Engineering Training Depot (in absentia).
08/07/1941 Posted to 2nd Reinforcements 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
03/09/1941 Embarked Sydney, New South Wales on H.M.T. G.G.
23/09/1941 Disembarked Middle East to Pioneer Training Battalion.
28/09/1941 Evacuated to 7 Australian General Hospital.
28/10/1941 Evacuated from 7 Australian General Hospital to 1 Australian Convalescent Depot with bacillary dysentery.
10/11/1941 Discharged 1 Australian Convalescent Depot and marched into camp.
26/11/1941 Marched out to 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
27/11/1941 Taken on strength from Pioneer Training Battalion.
31/01/1942 Embarked Middle East on S.S. Orcades.
18/02/1942 Disembarked Batavia, Java.
07/03/1942 Reported missing in action, Java.
30/04/1942 Reported missing in action, Java and transferred to X list.
18/09/1942 Reported missing in action believed prisoner of war.
04/11/1943 Reported prisoner of war.
22/12/1943 Reported interned Thailand camp.
13/12/1943 Reported interned Thailand camp and transferred to Thailand camp.
26/04/1945 Reported missing in action believed deceased about December 1943.
28/11/1945 Became missing in action and for official purposes is presumed to be dead 05/08/1943.