Sydney Lucas
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| Sydney Lucas | |
|---|---|
| Born September 21, 1900 | |
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| Place of birth | Leicester, England |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom Australia |
| Service/branch | British Army Australian Army |
| Years of service | August 1918 – ? 1940 – 1941 |
| Rank | Private |
| Unit | 45th Sherwood Foresters 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Syd(ney) Maurice Lucas (born September 21, 1900) is, at age 107, one of the last surviving U.K. veterans of the First World War, and one of the two remaining British ones who emigrated to Australia. He was born in Leicester, England, and conscripted into the British Army's Sherwood Foresters while a teenager in August 1918, but the war ended before he was sent to fight.
Lucas emigrated to Australia in 1928. On 13 June 1940, he volunteered for the 2nd Australian Imperial Force, enlisting at Caulfield, Melbourne stating that his locality on enlistment was Coburg, Melbourne and listing Galdys Lucas as next of kin. Lucas was allotted service number VX26480 and posted to the 2/1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion.[1] He was sent to join his battalion in [Palestine]] but a bout of appendicitis resulted in him having an operation on his gallbladder on arrival, and so he was not medically fit to join the battalion when it sailed for Greece in early April 1941. Lucas was transferred to prisoner-of-war duties, guarding Italian and German prisoners of war being shipped to Australia on the RMS Queen Mary.[2] He was discharged from the Australian Military Forces on 7 November 1941, with the rank of private. His posting at discharge was Headquarters, Guard Battalion.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=438166
- ^ Shtargot, Sasha (2005-04-21). Veteran of two armies to ride in Chevy. The Age. Retrieved on 2007-05-30.
- ^ http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=6203239
