David (Davie) MCGREGOR

MCGREGOR, David

Service Number: Commissioned Officer
Enlisted: 12 January 1915, Medals - 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Last Rank: Warrant Officer
Last Unit: HMAS Goorangai
Born: Buckie, Scotland, 5 February 1894
Home Town: Mortdale, Hurstville, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Fisherman
Died: Accidental Collision with MV Duntroon, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia, 20 November 1940, aged 46 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
At Sea
Memorials: Plymouth Naval Memorial to the Missing / Lost at Sea, Queenscliff HMAS Goorangai Memorial
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World War 1 Service

12 Jan 1915: Enlisted British Forces (All Conflicts), Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Medals - 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
21 Mar 1919: Discharged British Forces (All Conflicts), Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Medals - 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement
16 Sep 1939: Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Warrant Officer, Commissioned Officer, HMAS Goorangai
20 Nov 1940: Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Warrant Officer, HMAS Goorangai

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Son of James and Jessie McGregor; husband of Helen McGregor, of Mortdale, New South Wales, Australia.

Commissioned Warrant Officer David McGregor was born in Banffshire, Scotland. David was from a seafaring family and he went fishing from an early age from Aberdeen with an uncle. In 1926 / 27, David came to Australia as 1st mate with his uncle, the master, on the steam trawler Beryl. His wife, Helen, and their two children, James and Elsie (Helen), followed him in 1927 on the old First World War troopship Themistocles. They settled in the Sydney suburb of Mortdale, and David worked as a fisherman, captaining the trawler Goorangai in the waters off New South Wales.

On the outbreak of war, the ST Goorangai was taken over by the Navy Board and sailed to Williamstown by David as delivery captain and stayed with ship while being fitted out for minesweeping. David, who was a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, reported for active duty and remained captain of the Goorangai in its new role.
David served in minesweeper trawlers and warships HMS Leander and HMS Dreadnought during World War One in the Royal Navy Reserve and his medals went down with Goorangai.
ERA Gilmore was married to David MacGregors’ wife’s cousin. CERA Green was married to another of David’s cousin’s daughter.
For the family of David McGregor, more sorrow was to come when James, his eldest son, was lost on board HMAS Canberra in 1942

https://www.facebook.com/goorangai/photos/3772147502799577 (www.facebook.com)

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