Rupert Major DOWNES CMG, MID***

DOWNES, Rupert Major

Service Number: VX57673
Enlisted: 8 October 1942, Paramatta, NSW
Last Rank: Major General
Last Unit: 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance
Born: Adelaide, South Australia, 10 February 1885
Home Town: Malvern, Stonnington, Victoria
Schooling: Haileybury College, and at Ormond College, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Surgeon, Academic, Army medical officer, Military historian
Died: Aircraft accident, Machan's Beach, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 5 March 1945, aged 60 years
Cemetery: Cairns War Cemetery
Plot A. Row D. Grave 18.
Memorials: Black Rock Royal Melbourne Golf Club Honour Roll WW2, Melbourne Cricket Club WW2 Honour Roll
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World War 1 Service

2 Feb 1915: Involvement 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Chilka embarkation_ship_number: A51 public_note: ''
2 Feb 1915: Embarked 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance, HMAT Chilka, Melbourne

World War 2 Service

8 Oct 1942: Involvement Major General, VX57673
8 Oct 1942: Enlisted Paramatta, NSW
8 Oct 1942: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Major General, VX57673

Help us honour Rupert Major Downes's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

RAAF Lockheed Hudson A16-118 (VMZI-FM) crashed into the sea about 400 yards out from Machan's Beach, just north of the mouth of the Barron River near Cairns - the pilot had been warned not to take off due to a cyclone in the area, however they left from Townsville and crashed near Cairns. The aircraft was carrying:

Major General George Alan Vasey VX9 - HQ 7 Australian Division

Major General Rupert Major Downes CMG VD of the Australian Army Medical Corps

Lieutenant Colonel George Anthony Bertram OBE NX324 of Advanced Land HQ "G" Branch Australian Headquarters

Corporal Edward Lewis James NX4011 of Local Administration Staff Australian Headquarters - Batman to General Vasey

Colonel Robert Heathcote Russell DSO NX168 of the Australian Army Medical Corps

Lieutenant William Riggall VX80932 of the Australian Army Service Corps - PA to General Vasey

RAAF crew from Number 4 Communications Flight:

Flight Lieutenant John William Newell 404543

Flying Officer Gordon Thomson DFM 400573

Warrant Officer Berrol Samuel Frieze 409400

Flying Officer Donald James Bassett 406465

Leading Aircraftman John Dudley Moore 77157

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Downes, Rupert Major (1885–1945)
by A. J. Hill

Rupert Major Downes, surgeon and soldier, was born on 10 February 1885 at Mitcham, Adelaide, youngest child of Major General Major Francis Downes and his wife Helen Maria, née Chamberlin. Rupert was educated at Haileybury College, Melbourne, and at Ormond College, University of Melbourne (M.B., Ch.B., 1907; M.D., 1911; M.S., 1912). When still at school, he had joined the Victorian Horse Artillery (Rupertswood Battery) as a trumpeter and he had served in the Melbourne University Rifles. In July 1908 he was commissioned as a captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps.

The first six years of his career were fruitful and happy ones. Downes was a demonstrator in anatomy at the university and a tutor at Ormond, and worked as a clinical surgical assistant at the Melbourne and Children's hospitals. At the same time he threw himself into the work of the A.A.M.C., being promoted major in 1913. On 20 November he married Doris Mary Robb at St John's Church, Toorak.

When the Australian Imperial Force was raised in 1914, Downes was given command of the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance and promoted lieutenant-colonel, the youngest in the A.I.F.

 

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/downes-rupert-major-6008 (adb.anu.edu.au)

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