Peter Edward Richard COE

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COE, Peter Edward Richard

Service Number:	NGX50
Enlisted:	8 February 1940, Rabaul, New Guinea
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	6th Australian Division
Born:	Naracoorte, South Australia, 28 March 1906
Home Town:	Kingston South East, Kingston, South Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Customs Officer
Died:	Drowned (internee of Japan - Montevideo Maru), Rabaul, 18 July 1942, aged 36 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

8 Feb 1940:	Involvement Private, NGX50
8 Feb 1940:	Enlisted Private, Rabaul, New Guinea
8 Feb 1940:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, NGX50
14 Feb 1940:	Discharged Private, NGX50, 6th Australian Division, Rabaul, New Guinea

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Biography

Peter Edward Richard Coe was a civilian customs officer working in Rabaul when the Japanese forces invaded. He was made a Private to try to ensure that he would be taken as a prisoner of war rather than killed if the Japanese captured Rabaul. He was indeed captured and taken aboard the Montevideo Maru for transfer to Japan but the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Sturgeon with the loss of all prisoners. His name, frustratingly, does not appear on the Montevideo Maru memorial in Ballaratt as he was apparently not considered a war casualty being, essentially, a civilian.

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