Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

17/07/1942

Place of Enlistment

Operational Station, Papua

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

27/09/1916

Place of Birth

Mosman NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Church Lane, Queanbeyan NSW

Occupation

Clerk, Prime Minister's Department, Canberra ACT

Next of Kin

Son of Robert and Ethel Taylor, of 3 Church Lane, Queanbeyan NSW.

Burial Place

Soputa War Cemetery: grave W.A.5 (AWM Roll of Honour circular); Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea (CWGC database): grave C5.C.13

Service Number

NX113226 (N42970)

Final Rank

Sergeant

Final Unit

3 Battalion (AMF)

Died 29 November 1942 aged 26 years, killed in action Papua.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 64.
Queanbeyan & District Honour Roll (corner of Farrer Place & Lowe Street, Queanbeyan)

Taylor was appointed an acting Sergeant with the 3rd Battalion in December 1941 and arrived in Port Moresby with his unit in May 1942. He was Platoon Sergeant in 12 Platoon, B Company and entered the Kokoda Track on 5 September 1942 as part of Maroubra Force. The 3rd Battalion fought the Japanese at Ioribaiwa and Imita ridges and then patrolled forward through Nauro, Menari and Kagi. In October they encountered the Japanese at Templetons Crossing and a few weeks later at Oivi and then Gona on the north coast of Papua. Taylor was killed during the fighting at Gona on 29 November 1942.

The Roll of Honour circular says that Taylor worked for the Prime Minister's Department but his enlistment forms state that he was a hairdresser working from a shop in Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. This was his father's business where Taylor would sometimes help out.

Description - height 5 feet 7.5 inches, weight 142 pounds, chest 34-37 inches, scar on the palm of his right hand.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Rex L. Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan' (Revised edition) Queanbeyan, Queanbeyan Publishing Company, 1985 (p.242)
Bede Tongs, '3rd Battalion AMF 1942' (blog), http://3rdbattalion1942.com/
The Canberra Times - 11 January 1943
Queanbeyan Age - 8 January 1943, 12 January 1943
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)