Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Victor Basil Harris, SX30513, was born on April 1, 1920 in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of John & Eva Harris. He enlisted on December 11, 1942, motivated by the war in the Pacific, particularly the air raids on Darwin. Following training in Moorfield, NSW, he eventually was posted as a Gunner with the 101 Anti Aircraft Regiment in Darwin, Northern Territory.
Vic died while recuperating from a broken arm at the Berry Springs rest camp. He'd acquired the break while unloading 44 gallon drums from a truck in a creek bed, and when the bone wasn't knitting it was decided that he should be sent home to Adelaide to assist his recovery.
On the day he passed, two weeks before he was due to head home, they'd been blasting latrine pits at the camp and 2 pits had been set with explosives that had failed to explode. The force of a third blast igniting set off the other two pits and the sound must've been alarming. Vic rose from the camp stretcher he was reading on, to be struck in the chest by flying debris.
The chest wound was extensive, and despite their best efforts, he passed away enroute to the 129th Army General Hospital, listing broken ribs and haemo pericardium as the cause of death.
Vic was survived by his wife, Audrey, and daughter Wendy.