ROUSE, Thomas Joseph - WX5963

Original items held by a member of the community

Pte Thomas Joseph Rouse

Conflict	World War 2
Service Arm	Australian Imperial Force
Unit	2/28th Infantry Battalion
Service No.	WX5963
Service Arm	Army
Date of Birth	25 Mar 1921
Birthplace	Birmingham, ENG
Residence	Pinjarra, WA; Busselton, WA
Date of Death	11 Jun 1985
Relatives	Father - Thomas Joseph Rouse

Thomas is photographed with his good friend WATSON, Harold - 276347, WX5013. They served together in the 2/28th Battalion and were together in the POW camps in Libya and Italy.

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Attestation and discharge documents

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Thomas was captured at Alamein by the Italians when his position was cut off from support and the Battalion was surrounded. The prisoners were sent the the Benghazi POW camp in Libya. He spent time at the camps in Bari and Udine before being transported to POW camp 106 in Northern Italy. Camp 106 was a cluster of work farm camps where the soldiers worked in the surrounding rice fields and were guarded by the Italian Army. He escaped through Switzerland on 11th September 1943.

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