POW Profiles

Private Robert (Bob) Behan was among the younger men in the camp. He was born at Bellingen, NSW in 1919. He served in the 2/2 Battalion and was captured at Kalamata. Post-war, Robert was a member of the NSW Police. He served in Nimbin and in Sydney. He married Lorna Thompson (1927-2000) at Petersham in 1946.They had six daughters. Bob died on Xmas Day, 1983 in Campbelltown, NSW. He was 64.

Private Lionel Bigmore was a member of the 17th's Brigade's 2/6 Battalion. He was living at Pimborneit East when he enlisted on 12 Aug 1940. He was captured at Kalamata. Lionel was born in Geelong, Victoria on 10 Jul 1916 and grew up in nearby Drysdale. He married soon after returning to Australia and for a few years did farm work. In the early fifties he got a position with the City of Geelong West's public works department and remained there until he retired. Lionel died on 11 Apr 2008. he was 91.

Corporal Stuart Loxley Bradley was an infantry soldier in the New Zealand Army’s Expeditionary Force, Service No. 30445. He was born in 1915 in Auckland. Stuart died 25 Jun 1993 aged 78.

Driver Bernard Cashmore was a member of the Royal Army Service Corps. He was born in Aston, England in 1906. He enlisted in the Army in 1924 and served seven years in the Dorsetshire Regiment, then a further five years as a reservist. When WW2 broke out, he was married with 2 daughters. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in France and Egypt before being posted to Greece. He was captured by the Germans at Kalamata on the eve of his 35th birthday. Bernard was in work camps in Zollfeld and Steindorf before arriving at Klagenfurt in July 1942 where he remained until liberation.

Corporal Arthur Roy Neil Dobson served in Australia's 2/7 Infantry Battalion. He was born in Meriden, England in 1918 and immigrated to Australia in 1928 with his family as a 10-year-old. Prior to embarking for Greece, Roy  was transferred to the 17th Brigade and put in charge of the Officer's Mess and promoted to Corporal. Roy was captured at Kalamata and was allocated to work in the Hatheyer Soap Factory in Klagenfurt. After repatriation to Australia, Roy re-enlisted in the army and was sent to England for post-armistice service. He was discharged from the army in England on 25 Jun 1947. Roy remained in England living in the Stafford in the Midlands. He died there in 1972 aged 54.

Gunner Robert Dickson Douglas, Bob, was a member of the Royal Artillery, Service No. 1518634. 

Private John Dowrick was a member of Australia’s 2/8th Battalion. Before enlisting, he was a fitter at the railway workshops at in Mildura. Jack was born in St Arnaud, Victoria in 1905. He was single at the time but married the girl he was courting when the war ended. Jack was known as Pop in the camp. He was among the older prisoners. He fought at Tobruk where he was lightly wounded in January 1941. In October 1944 Jack, suffering from a duodenal ulcer, was sent to the POW hospital at Spittal. Post-war, Jack was a boilermaker for Victorian Railways at Ballarat. He died in 1971 aged 65.

Private Harold George "Winks" Malcolm served in the 2/2 Infantry Battalion. He was born in Taree, NSW in 1917. Post war, in 1947, he married Daphne Witchard. He lived in Sydney and was employed as a storeman. He died in 1992 aged 75. 

Private John Edward McHale was a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. John was born in 1919. He was a Hotel Chef when he enlisted in the British Army on 4 Apr 1940. He was captured in Tripolis on 28 Apr 1941. He was in 10029/GW at Klagenfurt from 3 Apr 1943 to 2 May 1944 when he was transferred to another work party at a paper mill, 75/GW.

Lance Corporal Bernard Ryan served with the 2/1 Infantry Battalion. Bernard landed in Greece with his unit on 22 Mar 1941. His battalion was evacuated by sea from Megara on 25 April. It landed on Crete the next day and was subsequently deployed with the 2/11th Battalion to defend the airfield at Retimo. Against an overwhelming German force and, short of rations and ammunition, the 2/1st surrendered and became prisoners of war. Bernard was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1917. Post-war he was a public servant. He married and worked in Sydney. He died in 1995 aged 77.

Corporal Gilbert Conyard was a member of the 2/3 Battalion. He was born in 1910 in the Sydney suburb of Hurlstone Park. He married in 1929 when aged 19. During his internment at Klagenfurt, Gil was assigned to work in a factory where he formed a relationship with Ida, a Slovenian office employee. They had a daughter together. Gil promised to bring Ida and Breda to Australia. When he returned to home, he and his wife divorced. Soon after, he fell ill and was hospitalised. He married the nurse who tended him in hospital but the marriage never survived and he divorced for the second time. Sadly, on 31 Jan 1950 in Bondi, Sydney, Gilbert took his life. He was 39. Some years later, a fellow POW, Geoffrey Skinner, a friend of Gilbert's, visited Ida and her daughter, Breda. Geoffrey and his wife provided friendship and moral support to Ida over a number of years and hosted Breda when she worked in England for a time.

Back: Bernard Ryan and Winks Malcolm. Front: Bert Bruce and Bill Cassidy. picture - Australian War Memorial

Gunner William Edward 'Bill' Cassidy was a member of the 2/3 Light Anti-Aircraft, Royal Australian Artillery. Bill was born in Koondrook, Victoria in 1912. He enlisted at Stanhope on 1 Jul 1940. Post-war, Bill lived in Chiltern, Victoria and worked at the local flour mill. He died in Albury, NSW in 2001. He was 89. Bill is the son of former ABC journalist, Barrie Cassidy. Click Here to read "My Father's Story."