Soldier profiles
Name : BRABIN, THOMAS RICHARD
Service Number : NX93177
Date of Birth : 22/12/1920
Place of Birth : JUNEE, NSW
Known as : TOM
Occupation on Enlistment : FORESTER
Date of Enlistment : 20/03/1942
Locality on Enlistment : JUNEE, NSW
Place of Enlistment : PADDINGTON, NSW
Next of Kin : BRABIN, DULCIE (MOTHER)
Rank (at time of discharge / death) : SERGEANT
Service : ARMY
Final Posting : 2/2 PIONEER BATTALION
Position / Platoon / Company (as 2/2 Pioneer) (date / details) : INTELLIGENCE SECTION (NEW GUINEA)
Unit Transfers / Promotions (date / details) :
Theatres of War : NEW GUINEA
Actions :
Wounded (date / details) : SHOT IN ABDOMEN (NEW GUINEA)
Discharged : 05/03/1945
Date Died : N/A
Community Roll of Honour : N/A
Buried Location / Memorial (P.O.W., D.O.W., K.I.A.) : N/A
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) : NO
Died P.O.W. (date / details) : N/A
P.O.W. Camps (details) : N/A
Recovered P.O.W. (location/s) : N/A
Honours and Gallantry : None for display
Applicable Australian War Memorial circulars : NO
References found (entries & photos) : National Archives of Australia (Barcode 5660851 [NOT EXAMINED]), WW2 Nominal Roll
Background : Wasn't allowed to enlist initially because he was still in university. Tom was in the Intelligence Section in New Guinea. He led the patrols having to use very bad maps which didn't show branch tracks at all well. Dysentery was common among the troops but when Tom had to go to the track side; all of the column had to stop. He was shot in the abdomen & put in a Regimental Aid Post (R.A.P.) tent for those unlikely to survive. However, the Fuzzy Wuzzy angels carried him to an airstrip for evacuation (possibly Tsili Tsili or Nadzab) to Port Moresby Australian General Hospital (A.G.H.) then he was shipped to Sydney. Grace Pasch (his sister) pulled strings to get him into the North Shore Hospital; which is probably why Tom survived (since he was in the ?Won't Survive? ward in Sydney). Information courtesy of R. Brabin (son).
