Nowell, John

Signalman John 'Jock' Nowell, WX501, was in the Australian Corps of Signals attached to the 6th Division. He was wounded at Kalamata, Greece on the night of 28 Apr 1941 and captured there the following day. He was 29 at the time.

John was initially interned at Wolfsberg at Stalag 18A. He was later transferred to Arbeits Commando 10029/GW, located at Klagenfurt. In January 1945, John, along with E.W. 'Jock' Robertson and G.N. 'Snowy' Yates made a successful escape from the Klagenfurt POW Camp eventually joining up with 8th Army patrols (Kings Royal Rifles) at Udine on the Austrian/Italian border. A fluent German speaker (learned in the Camp), John acted as an interpreter for Kings Royal Rifles and 4th Royal Hussars during conquest and occupation of Austria from Udine to Vienna.

Supplementary details provided by Ian Nowell (son).

John was born 11 Apr 1912 in Manchester, England. He immigrated to Australia with his family in 1928 as a 14 year-old boy.

After repatriation to Australia, John re-enlisted in the Australia Army and served in Korea with the Commonwealth Signal Squadron performing post-armistice service and ceasefire monitoring. He fell ill and was transferred to hospital in Japan for medical treatment. He died there on 24 Nov 1956, and was buried at the Yokohama War Cemetery. He was 44.

AWM Nominal Roll