Charles Owen Parkin

Charles Owen Parkin

Personal Information
Date of Birth	15 Feb 1916
Place of Birth	Fremantle, Western Australia
Death	30 Sep 1965, aged 49
Place of Death	Hollywood Repatriation Hospital, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	25 years, 1 month
Description	6'1" (1.m) tall ; 155lbs 70.307 kg ; fair complexion ; blue eyes ; fair hair
Occupation	Orchard worker
Religion	Church of England
Address	Holden road, Roleystone, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Mother , Mrs M V Parkin
Military Information
Reg Number	WX2844 & 249807
Date of Enlistment	20 May 1940
Rank	Corporal
Unit/Formation	2nd/3rd Australian Machine Gun Battalion, D Company
Date of Embarkation	19 Apr 1941 ‒ 14 May 1941
Ship Embarked On	SS Île de France Fremantle to Suez via Colombo
Date of Return	5 Oct 1945 ‒ 13 Oct 1945
Ship Returned On	HMS Formidable Manila, Philippines to Sydney
Medals	1939-45 Star Pacific Star War Medal 1939-45 Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Pre War

Joined the CMF for 3 years on 7 Nov 1937 with Army No. 249807 and was posted to the HQ Squadron of the 10th Light Horse Regiment.

War Service

On 1 Nov 1939 Charles was promoted Lance Corporal in the 10th Light Horse, and on 2 Feb 1940 promoted Corporal. He was discharged from the 10th Light Horse on 20 May 1940 in order to enlist in the 2nd AIF, where he was initially allocated to the 2/2 Machine Gun Battalion on 10 Jun 1940. From 12 - 18 Aug 1940 he participated in a Driver/Mechanics course at the Northam camp, before boarding a train for Adelaide on 29 Oct 1940, arriving there two days later, and being transferred to the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion. Granted pre-embarkation leave from 25 Mar till 3 Apr 1941, he caught a train from Adelaide to Perth where he was to later embark with his parent unit which had embarked in Sydney.

On 16 Apr 1941 as part of Convoy US 10B, Charles embarked on the SS Île de France which sailed on 19 Apr 1941 for Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where the ship anchored for 10 days before proceeding to Port Tewfik where it disembarked its troops on 14 May 1941.

Upon arrival in the Middle East, the 2/3rd was assigned to the 7th Division, the 2nd AIF's second division and subsequently joined them in Palestine, establishing a camp at Hill 95, to the north of Gaza. There the battalion undertook a vigorous physical training regime to regain the fitness lost from the sea voyage. A fortnight after arrival, on 28 May 1941 Charles was appointed Lance Corporal, and then on 5 Jun 1941 he was promoted Corporal. Along with the rest of the 7th Division, the 2/3 machine Gun Battalion was committed to the Syria–Lebanon campaign in early June, to secure the Allied eastern flank from attack. Due to the presence of Vichy French troops, the campaign was politically sensitive and as a result of heavy censorship not widely reported in Australia at the time as the Vichy French were more numerous and better equipped than the Australians.

From 20 Sep 1941 until 25 Oct 1941 he was away from his unit for training at the Middle East Weapons Training Section. Admitted to the 2nd/6th Australian Field Ambulance with cellulitis on 24 Nov 1941, he returned to the battalion on 8 Dec 1941. On 31 Jan 1942 the battalion boarded a train which took them to Kantara where they were ferried across the canal to continue the journey to Port Tewfik where they boarded the troopship SS Orcades for Oosthaven in Sumatra, disembarking on 15 Feb 1942. Soon after they moved to Batavia in Java where they were to attempt to hold up the Japanese advance. However, on 8 Mar 1942 the Dutch forces capitulated and the next day the British Forces surrendered. On 30 Jul the Army was advised that Charles was a POW in Java, and in the meantime the Japanese had sought to transfer him, most probably to Singapore, but on 20 Jan 1944 the ship that he was travelling on was sunk of Sumatra. Charles was rescued, and subsequently on 1 Aug 1944 he was known to be interred in the Fukuaka Camp.

On 9 Sep 1945 Charles was one of the POWs recovered from the Japanese in Thailand and taken to the 8th Australian POW Reception Camp in Manila. On 5 Oct 1945 he boarded the HMS Formidable in Manila for Sydney where he disembarked on 13 Oct 1945. The following day he entrained for Perth, arriving there on 20 Oct 1945. Granted leave, he was on 4 Dec 1945 admitted to the 110th (Perth) Military Hospital for assessment after which he was transferred to the 109th Australian Convalescent Depot in Melville after which he was discharged on 18 Dec 1945.

Post War

In 1974 his widow Molly applied for a War Service Home.