Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

KILMORE FREE PRESS - Thursday 19 June 1941
Letter From Abroad - Leading Seaman Frank De Campo in Thick of It.
The following are extracts from a letter by Leading Seaman Frank De Campo to his sister (Mrs. Lynch, Silver Creek, near Beechworth) and his two daughters, Betty and Peggy, written on 3rd May: "We get very little chance of writing these hard times as we are practically at sea most of the time. "The weather is improving and soon will be summer, thank goodness. The winter was hard to take. Easter we spent at sea with more bombs falling, but, however, we are still under our lucky star. Easter Monday we saw our hospital ship full of wounded get bombed by the German dive bombers. We saw them deliberately do it. We went to her assistance and took off 460 wounded, including the nursing staff. We saved the lot, thank God. "The last few weeks have been terrible. It is getting worse every day. The Germans have no respect for anything. All they want to do is to kill. You in Aussie are lucky. You, have no idea what it is like over here; women and children are bomb ed and machine-gunned in the streets. It is hard to believe unless one sees it. Last war was child's play to this; but we will make them pay for it. "The Ovens and Murray Advertiser." Leading Seaman De Campo has a son, Peter, attending Assumption College, Kilmore, and his father, Mr. A. De Campo resides in Powlett Street, Kilmore.

KILMORE FREE PRESS - Thursday 21 May 1942
OBITUARY
PETTY OFFICER FRANK DE CAMPO Since briefly reporting in our last issue on the death of Petty Officer Frank De Campo, we have received the following further particulars:- Killed in a brownout car accident in Melbourne on Saturday evening, 9th May, Petty Officer Frank De Campo had survived the hazards of two wars. He was born in Beechworth about 45 years ago. He was a son of Mr. Antonio De Campo, of Kilmore, and the late Mrs. Elizabeth De Campo.
As a youth the late Petty Officer De Campo entered the Royal Australian Navy and saw service throughout the 1914-18 war, and fought at the Battle of Jutland. After the war he transferred to the Naval Reserve and joined the staff of the Beechworth Mental Hygiene Hospital, of which he became a very popular member. He had kept up his naval training, attending at Naval Reserve headquarters at regular intervals, and before the outbreak of war in 1939 received his call to the colors. When the gallant H.M.A.S. Waterhen went down fighting in the Mediterranean, Petty Officer De Campo was one of the crew. He managed to survive by swimming for many hours.
On returning to Australia he was honored with a public reception at Beechworth. The news of his death profoundly shocked that district, and tributes were paid to his memory in both Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. The remains were taken to Beechworth and laid in St. Joseph's Church, where a Requiem Mass was celebrated prior to the cortege leaving for the Beechworth Cemetery on 12th May. Five children, Peter, Noel, Jack, Peg and Betty, are left to mourn the loss of a loving and devoted father. By tragic coincidence, deceased's wife was killed in a motor accident at Beechworth some years ago.

He children were cared for by his sister Dorothy and her husband William Halbert Lynch. One son Francis went on to become the Bishop of Port Pirie.