DUNNETT, Maxwell Charles
| Service Number: | NX55300 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Anti Tank Batteries / Companies |
| Born: | Coolah, New South Wales, Australia, 6 August 1915 |
| Home Town: | Coolah, Warrumbungle Shire, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm Hand |
| Died: | Died at sea (Montevideo Maru), South China Sea, 1 July 1942, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemotrated: - Panel 3,Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Coolah Memorial School of Arts HR2, Parramatta NSW Department of Education Teachers and Trainees WW2 Honour Roll, Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul Montevideo Maru Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Gunner, NX55300, Anti Tank Batteries / Companies | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, NX55300 | |
| 25 Jan 1942: | Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, Presumed to have died at sea aboard unmarked Japanese P o W transport ship, Montevideo Maru when it was sunk by American Naval Forces in the South China Sea, 1st July 1942. |
Help us honour Maxwell Charles Dunnett'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: - Louis James Dunnett and Gladys May Campton (married 1914 in Gulgong, New South Wales), of Coolah, New South Wales.
Details of Final Posting……Gunner Maxwell Charles Dunnett enlisted on 28th June 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 22nd June 1942 Gunner Dunnett was 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 1st 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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