Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

04/06/1940

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

24/07/1916

Place of Birth

Epping, Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Hargreaves Crescent, Ainslie, Canberra ACT (Canberra NSW on DVA WW2 Nominal Roll)

Occupation

Bank clerk

Next of Kin

Son of George Longstaff Pinkney and Anne Elizabeth Pinkney; husband of Dorothy Pinkney, of 10 Scott Street, Croydon NSW.

Burial Place

El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt: grave XVI.G.6

Service Number

NX27934

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

2/13 Infantry Battalion AIF

Died 29 October 1942 aged 26 years, killed in action in Egypt.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 37.
Roll of Honour/Memorial Sydney NSW

Mentioned in despatches

Pinkney worked for the Commonwealth Bank, played rugby with Norths and Canberra and belonged to the 3rd Battalion (militia). He probably arrived in Canberra in 1938 and married Dorothy Pierce in 1940 before heading off to the Middle East where he served with the 2/13th Battalion during the siege of Tobruk. Wilmot describes a patrol led by Pinkney, outside the perimeter of the Tobruk defensive line, which attacked a group of Italians and took one prisoner. Cumpston includes a photo of Pinkney with some of his men in B Company at R31, a post on the Red Line at Tobruk. Pinkney was killed in action on 29 October 1942 aged 26 years, during the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt. According to a witness, Pinkney was at battalion headquarters when an enemy shelled exploded at his feet, killing him instantly. He was buried in El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt: grave XVI.G.6.

The ACT Electoral Roll lists him as Edwin Mark Pinkney. The AWM image shows officers of the 2/13 Battalion at Tobruk on 8 September 1941. Pinkney is the last man on the right in the back row.

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
J.S. Cumpston, 'The Rats Remain. The Siege of Tobruk, 1941', 1965 (p. 108)
A.F. Duffell, 'Norths: The First Fifty Years', 1988
AWM Collections Record : 020775
ACT Electoral roll - 1939, 1941
The Canberra Times - 23 May 1940, 11 March 1941, 11 November 1942
Chester Wilmot, 'Tobruk 1941', 1944 (p. 274)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883
Information provided by Ron Hourigan