Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

05/06/1940

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Nicknamed 'Paddy'

Date of Birth

12/07/1905

Place of Birth

Adelaide, South Australia

Address (at enlistment)

Ducane Street, Forrest, Canberra ACT [Cannong Mers, ACT on DVA WW2 Nominal Roll]

Occupation

Builder's labourer

Next of Kin

Son of Edward and Margaret Ann Goodfellow; husband of Jean Goodfellow, of Ducane Street, Forrest, Canberra, ACT

Service Number

NX28444

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

2/1 Pioneer Battalion AIF

Died 6 May 1941 aged 37 years, killed in action, Tobruk, Middle East

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 72.
Alamein Memorial, Egypt : Column 94.

Known as Paddy, Goodfellow lived at the Causeway Mess and was employed on construction work at the time of his enlistment in May 1940. He married Jean Kirkpatrick on 7 June 1940 shortly before joining the 2/1 Pioneer Battalion. Goodfellow arrived in Palestine in November 1940 where the Pioneers helped repair ports and roads but in February 1941 they were moved to a position along the road between Derna and Tobruk (in Libya) before falling back to Tobruk on 8 April 1941. Goodfellow was a Rat of Tobruk but was killed in action when his battalion was involved in what Wilmot refers to as a "small skirmish" with the Germans in the Salient at Tobruk on 6 May 1941. Goodfellow was part of a covering party for a platoon from the 2/9 Battalion digging in near the Salient when they came under artillery and machine gun fire from the Germans. Goodfellow was killed instantly when the Germans turned their attention to the covering party. He is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt. According to the official history Goodfellow was born on 12 July 1903 (his enlistment form states 1905) and he was killed in action on 4 May 1941.

The Alamein Memorial forms the entrance to Alamein War Cemetery. The Land Forces panels commemorate more than 8,500 soldiers of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt and Libya, and in the operations of the Eighth Army in Tunisia up to 19 February 1943, who have no known grave.

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>
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883
Chester Wilmot, 'Tobruk 1941', 1944 (p.189)
G.S. Osborn, 'The Pioneers. The Story of 2/1st Australian Pioneer Battalion 2nd AIF 1940-46', 1988 (p.47)
Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Vol.III, p.236
ACT Electoral Roll - 1941
The Canberra Times - 27 January 1941, 27 May 1941