Hi, New to the forum and looking for informtion on Hedley Thomas, VX 1622 6th Division Signals. Any information concerning his escape from Greece in a fishing boat would be appreciated. Photos of Hedley and others doing acrobatic stunts on motor bikes in the Western Desert surfaced some time ago, then disappeared. Thanks, PJ
To any admin guy that comes along - is it possible to either (a) move this thread into a better sub-forum, or ( B) split the latest post into it's own thread for the new chap. To PJ - can you provide a bit of background, researching Aussie servicemen can be relatively straightforward - but it would help to know what you have already checked: WW2 nominal roll, AWM, NAA, NLA etc Also, what is your interest - long lost relative etc?? Where does your initial info come from - a website, one of the Aussie government sites, a relative's recollections???? People like me love helping but hate going down blind alleyways, "discovering" info that the OP already knows but hasn't included in their post. welcome aboard & good luck Dave PS - sorry about the stupid emoticon or whatever it is called, I tried putting a small letter b between a set of brackets and got that instead......
Thanks, Dave, I’ve jumped the gun. Hedley Thomas, VX1622 is the father of a friend. Hedley died in 1997. The WW2 Nominal Roll has been checked and his service records have been ordered but are yet to arrive. Hedley’s family has medals, photos, and various papers relating to his service in the 6th Division Signals. He was a despatch rider. There is a photo of him on the AWM site captioned: 'QASTINA. SIG. K. WARDLEY, AND CORP. H. THOMAS - 6TH DIVISION SIGNALS. (NEGATIVE BY D. PARER)'. It is reported by his family that a picture of Hedley on his motorcycle for some time graced the back of Kellog Cornflakes boxes during the war. I’ll hold back until the service record arrives and we’ve had time and opportunity to analyse it, Cheers, PJ
Thanks Owen - brilliant as ever. PJ - it looks like you are on the right track, both with what has been done so far with the nominal roll & NAA records plus coming onto this forum. Hopefully when you receive the service records they will also be added to the NAA site so others can read them at the same time to help explain abbreviations / acronyms etc. Interesting that the shot of Hedley in the ME was by Damien Parer, arguably Australia's most well-known war photographer. Being that the shot is of him and his off-sider carrying meals it is plausible that it ended up on a war-time cereal box. I presume that the info on him escaping Greece came from the family? It will be interesting to see if it is specifically mentioned in his file, or if it will be recorded as a movement - first "reported MIA" followed by "re-joined unit". I tried the NLA site for old newspaper reports - sometimes stories such as his escape get turned into good news articles - "Local man escapes Nazis" - that sort of thing, but no luck so far. I just noticed from the nominal roll that he was discharged in November 1944, does the family know if he was invalided out due to injury etc? I suppose the service file will answer that sort of question. For those following along, here is a link to the photo in the AWM collection: http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/001186/
Thank you, DaveB and Owen, Will await the NAA files and we did request both hard and digital copies. The info re escape from Greece on a fishing boat came from the family, but Hedley had marked the route from Greece to Crete on a map and he was given the boat's Greek flag on arrival in Crete. About his early discharge - according to the family, he had 'had enough', having spent more than 3 years in the militia before enlisting in '39. The service records may shed more light. There are some great pics on the AWM site of men of the 6th Division Signals men in Greece and Crete. Thanks again, PJ
