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NX4572 Patrick Edward Harrington
On 22 Aug 2007, the webmaster of the 2/18th web site
got an e-mail from Jim McCorry in Ireland. He had been doing some research
on his uncle, Patrick Harrington who was born in Ireland on 4th June 1902 and
died in Australia on 28th October 1948. Patrick served with the 2nd/18th during
the War and was a POW. Patrick was married to Jim's father's sister Mary, she
died in July 1981, they lived in Bathurst.
He was also trying to get information on Johnathan
Dixon who was born around 1901 near Armagh in Ireland and who also served with
the 2/18th but died while a POW. It would appear that Dixon lived in Lane
Cove and was married to Eliza Jane Dixon (nee Corkey or Rea). Jim is still
inquiring if she by any chance still alive?
Jim indicated he had quite a lot of information on
Patrick which he would be willing to share but he has very little on Dixon. Jim
has enquired by way of this article and the
Newsletter
#136 Request for Info Section for any further feedback. If anyone
does, please contact us on Feedback and we'll pass
it along to Jim.
Jim has supplied us with a 43 page document on the life
of Patrick Harrington. Thanks to Jim's diligence in posting us a CD, we
have the opportunity to make it available on the 2/18th web site. Please
have a look, but we ask that you respect the
permission clause at the bottom of this page. You might like to review
the index below before downloading the
sizable document. Click
here to download in MS Word Document format. [Caution!
50Mb download will take a LONG time at dial up speed.]
But Jim has not stopped there. With the help of
the both 2/18th researcher and the archivist, he has found out more about his
uncle and been pointed to further info he was unaware of that will take even
more research on his part.
In brief, our researcher uncovered the following -
- Patrick Harrington is recorded in the 2/18th Unit
History as POW Sumatra. It is noted that he is also listed in some areas
(POW lists AWM) as 2/19th Battalion. This comes about because he was a
reinforcement. The original members of 2/18th left Australia 18/2/41 but he
did not enlist until the April so went later. He trained in Australia with
one battalion and when he got to Singapore he was transferred to the other.
If he went in January 1942 there was such confusion that records were not
kept correctly and transfers did not get recorded – or if they did, records
were subsequently lost at or after capitulation.
He gave evidence at War Crimes Trials and reference to that, and where these
records are held, can be found on
www.naa.gov.au and entering his service number NX4272 in the record
search. No doubt, that will be evidence on being a POW in Sumatra and on the
other hand it could be for somewhere else as he could have been transferred
from Sumatra.
.
- Jonathan Dixon was an original member of the
2/18th Battalion and sailed for Singapore on 18/2/41. After capitulation he
was a POW in Singapore and later left there with E Force who sailed from
Singapore 20th March 1943 and went to Borneo. He died 9/6/45 along the track
on the second death march. In actual fact he was murdered and much more
detail can be found in Lynette Silver’s book Sandakan – A Conspiracy of
Silence. He had served with the Militia Forces in Australia prior to joining
the AIF in 1940.
In addition, on a personal note, Jim has had some
personal contact with the family relatives and let's us know on 26 Jan, 2008 -
"I had arranged to meet a nephew of Roberta Dixon,
(nee Rea), Jonathan Dixon's widow. I met him last Sunday for the first time.
Roberta's nephew is John Rea, he lives about twenty miles away, he was not
aware of the full facts as to what had happened to Dixon so I was able to
fill him in on the detail, some of which I knew but some of which I have
just learned with the generous help of [the 2/18th researchers].
John's family had lost touch with Roberta and he was trying to find out when
she died, some members of the family lived well into their 80's, in fact
John's mother is over 100. He had hoped that Roberta might have had a long
life but she died in 1949 at the young age of only 46, he is trying to find
out the cause of death at present but he wouldn't be surprised if it was
from a broken heart.
It's a long shot now but might any of the members of the 2nd/18th
Association know where Roberta be buried?"
Again, should anyone be able to assist with
information, contact us on Feedback and we'll pass
on to Jim.
INDEX RE PATRICK E
HARRINGTON document
[Webmaster note: Some pages might be slightly out.
For example, personal review shows the Paul Gemmell letter on page 31, not page
32. But this will help navigate through the long document. Jim
confirms this with the follow - I can't remember if I had a page included
on the original disk which detailed Pat's campaign medals, if not then the page
numbers might now be out of sync.]
- Page 1 Front Page & Dedication
- Page 2 – 6 Life Story of Patrick Edward Harrington
- Page 7 Photographs of Patrick & Mary Harrington
(nee McCorry)
- Page 8 World War Two Campaign Medals
- Page 9 – 19 Letter dated 1st December 1946 from
Partick Harrington to his sister-in law Isabella (Bella) McCorry) in Ireland
- Page 20 Reference notes for letter
- Page21 Patrick Harrington’s Royal Irish
Constabulary (RIC) Record
- Page 22 Patrick Harrington’s Royal Ulster
Constabulary (RUC) Record
- Page 23 Letter from RUC dated 8th October 1981 re
Patrick Harrington
- Page 24 – 27 Newspaper reports about IRA attack on
Camlough RIC Barracks December 1920
- Page 28 Photograph of Camlough Barracks May 1921
and today
- Page 29 RIC / RUC Officers including Patrick
Harrington (front right) Date unknown
- Page 30 Item re attack by British Army lead by
Lieutenant later General Percival on home of Michael Collins Irish
republican leader.
- Page 31 Map of Sumatra
- Page 32 Letter from Paul Gemmell, Bathurst NSW,
January 2003
- Page 33 Letter from Arthur Dasey, Inverell, NSW,
January 2003
- Page 34 Nominal Roll Arthur John Dasey
- Page 35 Photograph Patrick Harrington
- Page 36 Copy Death Certificate Patrick E
Harrington 25th October 1948
- Page 37 Nominal Roll Patrick Harrington ( with
Search Reference Page)
- Page 38 – 44 National Archive Defence Record of
Patrick Harrington
We
wish to also remind you that the story is provided with written permission of
Jim McCorry on behalf of Harrington family. This permission does not permit the
copy, electronic or otherwise of the material presented for ANY use, personal or
commercial, without the express written permission of the
Secretary of the 2/18th Battalion (AIF) Association.
Page created 03 Feb, 2008. Last Updated
03 Feb 2008 21:07:35 +1000
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