Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Date of Enlistment
- 10/07/1942
- Date of Discharge
- 06/03/1944
- Place of Enlistment
- Operational Station, Papua
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 07/08/1920
- Place of Birth
- Sydney NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- Coranderrk Street, Reid ACT
- Occupation
- Public servant
- Next of Kin
- Horace Richardson (father), Coranderrk Street, Reid ACT
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- NX141420
- Final Rank
- Lieutenant
- Final Unit
- 3 Australian Infantry Battalion
Notes
Richardson was a member of the 3rd Battalion (militia) sent to New Guinea in 1942 to fight the Japanese on the Kokoda Track. The 3rd Battalion entered the track on 5 September 1942 and fought the Japanese at Ioribaiwa and Imita. Richardson was leading 10 Platoon, B Company when he was shot by a sniper at Templetons Crossing on 17 October 1942.
The doctor who treated him in the field managed to close the wound in his chest but upon rolling Richardson over found another, bigger wound which he closed with safety pins. Richardson was given the last rites and pronounced dead until one man noticed his eye open. Somehow Richardson survived and was eventually evacuated to Australia. His convalescence was complicated by a bout of pleurisy before his appointment was terminated in March 1944. Richardson returned to Canberra and lived to be 94 years of age. When he died on 4 May 2015 he was living in St Lucia, Queensland.
Description - height 6 feet 2.5 inches, weight 145 pounds, chest 32.5-37 inches, dark complexion, dark brown hair, brown eyes, scar on his left knee, Church of England.
Sources
WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
Colin Kennedy, 'Port Moresby to Gona Beach. 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion 1942', 1992
Bill James, 'Field Guide to the Kokoda Track', 2006 (p.289)
Queanbeyan Age - 21 October 2002
The Canberra Times - 13 September 1943, 27 September 1943
Courier Mail (Brisbane) - 8 May 2015
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)