WWII Personnel
By the end of WWII, 1459 local personnel had enlisted and served; 55 of them died whilst serving. This included:
- Army 923 men (27 died) & 38 women (1 died)
- Navy 97 men (6 died) & 2 women
- Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 357 men (21 died) & 42 women
These figures are from the “Gawler WWII Honour Roll Board” completed by the Gawler RSL Sub-Branch in 2007 [photo] and the “Gawler WWII Enlisted Names” list on the “Gawler WWI Honour Roll Website”, created by researcher Beth Page.
It was over 50 years after the end of WWII before this comprehensive list was compiled as there was a lack of available, verifiable information (prior to online digitised records) and disagreements on the boundaries used to define the local district and the criteria used to determine who is local (born locally, resided locally, enlisted locally or had local next of kin). Whilst the Honour Roll indicates (using crosses) 24 personnel who died whilst serving, Beth Page’s more recent research has found that 55 did. Of those who died whilst serving, 22 are also commemorated on pavers in the Remembrance Garden at Pioneer Park, which were installed in 2015.
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