DEMPSEY, NORMAN LESLIE Rank: Private Service No: SX632 Date of Death: 24/12/1942 Age: 24 Regiment/Service: Australian Infantry A.I.F. 2/10 Bn. Grave Reference: B6. F. 10. Cemetery: PORT MORESBY (BOMANA) WAR CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Patrick Joseph and Emma Grace Dempsey.Casualty Details
A good South Australian lad He was KIA at Buna near the old airstrip (note reference to the Tin Hut in the unit’s war diary and on his pers file extract as his initial place of burial). Other info from the AWM ROH & the WW2 nominal roll. Papua was the 2/10th's next battleground and the battles it fought there were its most bitter and costly. It arrived at Milne Bay on 12 August and on the night of 27 August was overwhelmed by Japanese marines in a confused battle. The battalion fared even worse in its next engagement - Buna. Between 23 December and 2 January the 2/10th lost 113 men killed and 205 wounded in often ill-conceived attacks against Japanese bunkers around the old airstrip. Service Record: Name - DEMPSEY, NORMAN LESLIE Service - Australian Army Service Number - SX632 Date of Birth - 27 Nov 1918 Place of Birth - KINGSTON, SA Date of Enlistment - 28 Nov 1939 Locality on Enlistment - BIRDWOOD, SA Place of Enlistment - WOODSIDE, SA Next of Kin - DEMPSEY, ERNIE Date of Death - 24 Dec 1942 Rank - Private Posting on Death - 2/10 AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION Roll of Honour MOONTA SA Born in Kingston (SE), living in Birdwood in 1939, enlisted in Woodside, on the Roll of Honour in the town of Moonta and his AWM identification circular has his normal place of residence as Port Road in Alberton. He certainly got around in his short life. Moonta is nowhere near the place he was born, where he was living when he enlisted or where he had his residence in 1942 NB: there are two towns called Kingston in South Australia – usually differentiated by the terms Kingston South East (Kingston SE) which is home to the giant lobster & Kingston on Murray (Kingston OM) in the Riverland region.
Probably one of the tanks referred to in the war diary - photographed in 1945 Buna, New Guinea, 1945. A knocked out General Stuart M3 tank in an area occupied successively by 2/9 and 2/10 Infantry Battalions. BUNA, NEW GUINEA, 1945-07-03 TO 1945-07-04. A KNOCKED OUT GENERAL STUART M3 TANK IN AN AREA OCCUPIED SUCCESSIVELY BY 2/9 AND 2/10 INFANTRY BATTALIONS.
An iconic photo of the aftermath of the fighting at Buna on 24 December 1942 BUNA, PAPUA, 25 DECEMBER 1942. QX23902 PRIVATE GEORGE C. "DICK" WHITTINGTON BEING HELPED ALONG A TRACK THROUGH THE KUNAI GRASS TOWARDS A FIELD HOSPITAL AT DOBODURA. THE PAPUAN NATIVE HELPING HIM IS ...
