Gordon Thomas CURRAN

CURRAN, Gordon Thomas

Service Number: VX47360
Enlisted: 23 June 1940, 2/14th Training Battalion
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 40th Infantry Battalion
Born: Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, 15 June 1915
Home Town: Traralgon, Latrobe, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, Timor, 22 February 1942, aged 26 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials: Adelaide River Northern Territory Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Traralgon War Memorial
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, VX47360
23 Jun 1940: Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, VX47360, 2/14th Training Battalion
23 Jul 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX47360, 2nd/40th Infantry Battalion
21 Mar 1941: Transferred Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, 40th Infantry Battalion
8 Dec 1941: Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, VX47360, 40th Infantry Battalion, ex Darwin, NT

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Gordon was the fourth of seven children of John Curran (born 1889 in Traralgon in Victoria - aka Jack) and Julia Eugenie Parke (born 1888 in Warragul, Victoria) John and Eugenie married in 1909 in Traralgon where they raised their family. John - a Stud Groom - had briefly enlisted in the AIF in 1916 and was given a Medical Discharge in 1917.

Gordon was a Labourer when he married Doris Eleanor Davis (born 1919 in Prahran in Melbourne, Victoria) in 1938. Their only child William (Billie) was born in Traralgon. 

In 1940 Gordon enlisted in the Australian Army as a Private (Service No: VX47360), initially with 2/14th Training Battalion and in 1941 transferring to 2/40th Battalion. His records indicate that he was MiA on 23 April 1942 and a PoW on 13 June 1942. However, Gordon was KiA in Timor on 22 February 1942.

Following Gordon's death, Doris remained in Traralgon and remarried in 1947 to Leonard James Tallnash (born 1922 in Omeo, Victoria). Leonard had served in the Australian Army as a Private (Service No: VX132398) with 37/52 Battalion from 1943 to 1946. Doris lived in Traralgon, Victoria until 1972, and died in Terrigal, NSW in 1989.

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