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Byrne, Kevin Alphonsus

Private Kevin Byrne, VX47857, was a transport driver in the Australian Army Service Corps. He was attached to the 17th Brigade HQ of the 6th Division. He was captured at Kalamata, Greece on 29 Apr 1941 when he was 22. By war's end was interned for 1,468 days.

He arrived at Stalag 18A, Wolfsberg by train on 30 Jun 1941. His POW number was 3705. On 12 Jul 1941 he was assigned to work party 10029/GW at Klagenfurt. Kevin's work assignments included snow clearing, digging trenches for pipes and foundations for buildings, unloading coal at the rail yards, and furniture removal. He became fluent in German at Klagenfurt.

Kevin was born in Albury, NSW on 27 Oct 1918. For seven years after the war he was a self-employed grocer. He joined Peter's Ice Cream in 1954 as a truck driver/salesman rising to State Distribution Manager and remained with this company until he retired at 60.

Kevin married Agnes Monahan in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1947. They had five children.
Kevin died on 29 Jan 2006 at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley. He was 87

Kevin's memoir is published on this site. It's called "In The Bag"

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