Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

30/01/1942

Date of Discharge

10/12/1942

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/11/1914

Place of Birth

Perth, Western Australia

Address (at enlistment)

Dirrawan Gardens, Reid ACT

School(s) Attended

Mt Lawley Primary School (Perth), Perth Modern School

Occupation

Public servant

Next of Kin

Florence Vincent, Dirrawan Gardens, Reid ACT

Service Number

N278630, NX17876

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

16 Garrison Battalion

Vincent worked as a public servant for the Customs Department in Western Australia until 1939 when he was transferred to Canberra. He had played rugby union in Western Australia and represented the state on a tour to Ceylon with an Australian colts team. After arriving in Canberra he joined the University club and represented the AIF in a game against the ACT. In a report on his wedding to Winifred Ashton at St. John's on 25 September 1941, Vincent was said to have recently returned to Canberra after being wounded at Tobruk. An earlier report in May 1941 refers to him being wounded in action whilst serving with the 2/17 Battalion (part of the 9th Division) during the siege of Tobruk - making Vincent one of the 'Rats of Tobruk'. Vincent was a member of D Company when, on 14 April 1941, the Germans established a bridgehead in the outer defences of Tobruk. He was shot in the left side of his head causing complete paralysis down the right side of his body. He underwent an operation on his brain in the makeshift underground hospital at Tobruk before being evacuated on 1 May to Egypt. The enlistment date of 30 January 1942 on the nominal roll relates to a second enlistment where he was an Intelligence Officer at the prisoner of war camp at Hay in western New South Wales. However, he had not fully recovered from his war wound and was discharged in late 1942.

After the war Vincent rejoined Trade and Customs and travelled to the 1947 International Trade Conference in Geneva as a French interpreter. He had founded Alliance Francaise Canberra in 1944. Vincent also served on the committee of the ACT Rugby Union as well as becoming president of the Norths club. He was also a member of the ACT branch of the Rats of Tobruk Association. Vincent retired to the South Coast of NSW where he died on 1 January 1995.

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
Stand-to: Journal of the Australian Capital Territory Branch, RSSAILA, Feb. 1952 (p.25)
A.F. Duffell, 'Norths: The First Fifty Years', 1988 (p.11)
The Canberra Times - 11 March 1941, 6 May 1941, 17 September 1941
'Tobruk Times', Newsletter of the Rats of Tobruk Association (ACT Branch)
Image courtesy of Gavin Young