NUMBER:

VX10049

BATTALION / UNIT / SHIP:

2/32nd Infantry Battalion

PLACE & DATE OF BIRTH:

Bairnsdale 30 July1918

NEXT OF KIN:

James Egan, his father. Son of James Michael and Catherine Jane Egan, of Inverloch, Victoria.

DATE & PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:

23 January 1940 at South Melbourne

LOCATION ON ENLISTMENT:

Inverloch

OCCUPATION:

Transport driver

PLACE & DATE OF DEATH:

19 December 1943 aged 25 in Papua New Guinea

LOCATION OF GRAVE/MEMORIAL:

He is buried in Lae War Cemetery

RELATIONSHIP TO WOORAYL SHIRE:

He and his family resided in Inverloch. He was the brother of Bernard James Egan

MILITARY/OTHER HISTORY:

The Battalion was formed in June 1940 from surplus Australian troops who had been sent to the United Kingdom shortly after the fall of France. After completing training in the United Kingdom the 2/32nd served in North Africa in 1941 - 1942. In early 1943, the battalion returned to Australia and later took part in campaigns against the Japanese in New Guinea in 1943 -1944 around Lae and on the Huon Peninsula.

Clement Egan died of illness while serving with the battalion in New Guinea in December 1943.