CURTIS, Neville Edward Hercules
| Service Number: | VX42144 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Wahrooga, New South Wales, Australia, 1 May 1916 |
| Home Town: | Wangaratta, Wangaratta, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Bank Clerk, Bank of New South Wales |
| Died: | Died at sea (Montevideo Maru), South China Sea, 1 July 1942, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemorated: - Panel 16, Rabaul War Cemetery and Memorial. Also known as Bita Paka War Cemetery. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul Montevideo Maru Memorial, Wangaratta Holy Trinity Cathedral Honour Roll WW2, Wangaratta War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement VX42144 | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, VX42144, 2nd/22nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 Jul 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, VX42144, 2nd/22nd Infantry Battalion, Presumed to have died in the South China Sea, aboard the unmarked Japanese prisoner of war transport vessel, Montevideo Maru, 1st July 1942, when it was sunk by USS Sturgeon. |
Help us honour Neville Edward Hercules Curtis's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Dianne Black
Parents: - Hercules George Curtis and Alice Sarah Jackson married 28th May 1910, Lismore, New South Wales.
Wife:--- Jean Robbie married 1940 in Victoria.
Fate:- Corporal Curtis enlisted on 5th July 1940 and served in New Britain. Following the Japanese invasion on 23rd January 1942, (Battle of Rabaul), he was taken prisoner of war (POW) and held at Rabaul. On 22 June 1942, Corporal Curtis was presumed one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the unmarked Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 2/22 Battalion, No. 1 Independent Company, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.
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