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I am the Grandaughter of Jack Giggins whom Married "Ethel Kairns Giggins, nee Jenkins", in Melbourne Victoria.  Jack and Ethel had one child, "Margaret Giggins on the 23/9/1935. Jack worked for the Malvern Tramways as a Clerk and played in the successful Malvern Tramways Harmonica Band as did his Brother Ern. Jack enjoyed playing Cricket and followed the Carlton Football Club something neither his daughter or myself followed in his footsteps, rather barracking for Collingwood.

Jack Married Ethel Kairns Jenkins in Malvern Victoria.

Corporal (CPL) John (Jack) Giggins Service No: VX10149, 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Army, 2nd A.I.F.

Jack was one of eight children born to John and Emma Giggins. Jack was born on 12 Sep 1910 in Gravesend, Kent in England and immigrated to Australia in 1914 with his mother and four other siblings. The family settled in Malvern, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria.

Jack married Ethel Kairns Jenkins on 24 November 1934 in St Georges Church of England, Malvern, and together they had a daughter (Margaret) born in 1935.

Jack voluntarily enlisted in the Australian Army (Second Australian Imperial Forces, 2nd AIF) in South Melbourne, on 1 Feb 1940, at age 30 years; - one of three Giggins brothers to enlist in the 2nd AIF during World War 2.

Prior to his recruitment in the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion, Jack had been enlisted in the 37th Battalion of the Australian Citizen’s Forces (1925-28), and the 5th Battalion Voluntary Militia Forces, from which he was discharged in 1940 to join the AIF.

After enlisting and being transferred to Puckapunyal he was posted to the newly formed 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion. Having completed basic training, Corporal (CPL) Jack Giggins and the rest of the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion embarked from Melbourne on 14 April 1940, abroad the vessel HMTY1 (Ettrick) for overseas service.

Arriving in the Middle East at El Kautara (a city on the western side of the Suez Canal in Egypt) on 18 May 1940, the battalion continued training in Palestine and Egypt.

The men of the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion took part in their first campaign in January and February 1941, advancing against the Italians in eastern Libya, where they took part in successful attacks at Bardia and Tobruk. The battalion's time in Libya cost it 32 killed, and 60 wounded.

On 9 April 1941, the 2nd/5th Infantry Battalion and most of the 6th Division, including Corporal (CPL) Jack Giggins were deployed to Greece, in order to resist the anticipated German invasion; embarking on the troopship MV Cameronia at Alexandria (Egypt), and disembarking in Piraeus, Greece on 12 April 1941, from where they moved on to Daphne.

The 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion began their campaign on 14 April 1941 moving forward and taking up positions at the junction of Graunia and Corfu Road in central Greece, to cover the withdrawal of other units.

On the 15 April the Germans were reported to be within 30 miles of their location, so subsequently the 2nd/5th battalion moved to reserve positions at Kalambaka (a small town located in the heart of Greece, in the northwestern part of the Thessalian plain. The town of Kalambaka would be eventually burned to the ground and destroyed by the Nazis forces before the war finally ended).

By the 17 April the battalion is recorded as withdrawing a further 6 miles from their previous positions and prepares to fight rearguard action against the advancing German forces. Further withdrawal of the battalion is recorded on the 18-19 April through Simtom to Lamia Pass.

Official records indicate Corporal Jack Giggins was killed in action on 19 April 1941, just seven days after arriving in Greece. He was reportedly amongst 13 Australian soldiers from the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion killed that day in an air strike against the Australian troops as they were retreating around the region of Lamia in central Greece. His remains were never recovered, and records indicate that he is buried ‘somewhere between Lamia and Larissa Roads’, in central Greece.

Family folklore recounts that Lance Corporal Leo White (who would later in 1943 marry Jack’s youngest sister Jessie) was with his mate Corporal Jack Giggins at the time Jack was killed, however there is nothing to confirm or otherwise refute this claim which at the time provided some comfort for Jack’s family.

In the book ‘Those Who Served’, the author of one of the chapters, Gavin Long from the Australian War Memorial describes the chaos and the casualties associated with the day Corporal Jack Giggins perished:

“Many vehicles were hit but few disabled. One officer who was towards the rear of the column remembers having seen only six abandoned vehicles between Larisa and Lamia. It seems certain that more vehicles were lost as a result of being bogged, breaking down, or running over the edges of the narrow roads than as a result of direct damage by air attack.

In men, to take two instances, the 2/5th Battalion lost thirteen killed and twenty-four wounded during the day, and the 2/11th Battalion four killed and eleven wounded; these appear to have been the heaviest casualties inflicted on Australian battalions by air attack in any day in this campaign.”

On the day that Corporal Jack Giggins was killed, Larissa fell to the advancing German army. The 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion had withdrawn through Simtom to Lamia Pass, and eventually all the way to the port of Kalamata, where on 27 April 1941 the remainder of the battalion boarded the transport vessel ‘City of London’, for evacuation to Alexandra.

Following this the remaining battalion moved on to Palestine, where it arrives on 30 April 1941. The 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion lost 21 men killed, 26 wounded and 47 as prisoners of war during the brief campaign in Greece.

At least fifteen names are recorded of soldiers from the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion Australian Infantry Battalion who fell in Greece on the same day that Corporal Jack Giggins was killed in action - 19 April 1941.

Corporal Jack Giggins left behind his wife Ethel and a five-year-old daughter (Margaret) who were living at the time in the Melbourne suburb of Carnegie. Official military records regarding the death of Corporal Jack Giggins indicate his place of burial as being – ‘between Lamia and Larissa Road, Greece’.

Corporal Jack Giggins name appears, at panel 31 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He is also commemorated at the Athens Memorial (Face 11), Phaleron War Cemetery, in Greece. There are now 2,029 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the Phaleron War Cemetery, 596 of the burials are unidentified.

On 17 May 1941 a death notice was published in the Argus Newspaper (Melbourne, Vic.) 1941, page 5, announcing that Corporal Jack Giggins had been killed in Greece. It reads:

“CPL. JACK GIGGINS Inf. (killed in action) was one of the first Malvern men to enlist. He was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. John Giggins of Elizabeth Street, Malvern and was employed by the MMTB. Another son is with the AIF abroad. Cpl. Giggins saw service at Tobruk, Bardia, and Benghazi, and it is presumed he was killed in Greece. He wrote his last letter home on April 9 and was killed on April 19.”

On 16 June 1946, five years after Corporal Jack Giggins’ death, nearly 300 mourners attended a memorial service at the Malvern Tramways Depot in honour of two former members of the Tramways Union who lost their lives in the war.

The two employees honoured included Corporal Jack Giggins. The service was conducted by Padre Reverend Alec Fraser of the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion Australian Infantry Battalion, with the address being given by Captain C.B. Swyers also of the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion Australian Infantry Battalion.    

Corporal Jack Giggins’ name appears on the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board Honour Roll (Malvern), Second World War 1939-45 (position 23).

Jack's two brothers - Stanley (Service No: VX24807) and Frank (Service No: VX281030), and his brother-in-law Leo White (Service No: VX3302, Leo served alongside Corporal Jack Giggins in the 2nd/5th Australian Infantry Battalion) all survived WW2.

Fifteen years after Corporal Jack Giggins was killed in Greece he continued to be remembered by his wife and family with a Memoriam Notice published in the Argus Newspaper (Melbourne, VIC), 19 April 1956, page 13, on the anniversary of his death in Greece.

Corporal Jack Giggins wife Ethel never remarried after losing her husband and died in 1994. His daughter Margaret died in 2018.