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Wood, Leslie Thomas

Private Les Wood served in the 2/7 Battalion in the 17th Brigade, 6th Division. His service number was VX12541. Les' POW number was 3980.

From the AWM website: In early April 1941, the 2/7th, with the rest of the 6th Division, deployed to Greece to resist the anticipated German invasion. For the 2/7th, the Greek campaign was essentially one long withdrawal through a series of rearguard positions, beginning on 16 April. The majority of the 2/7th were evacuated from Kalamata aboard the "Costa Rica" on the night of 26 April. On the afternoon of 27 April, however, the "Costa Rica" was crippled by German aircraft. The men of the 2/7th were rescued by a pair of British destroyers and landed on Crete.

On Crete, the 2/7th were initially deployed to defend the coastline around Georgioupolis but, after the German airborne landings on 20 May, were soon moved up to join the fighting around Canea. On 27 May the battalion took part in a wild bayonet charge at 42nd Street that temporarily rebuffed the German advance. The 2/7th subsequently played a critical rearguard role as the Allied forces retreated across the island to Sphakia. As a result, the battalion was left behind and taken prisoner after the withdrawal of the last evacuation vessels from Sphakia on 1 June.


Les was a single man when he enlisted in the 2nd AIF. He was born in Bendigo on 22 Oct 1909. Post-war, he married in worked in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton as a Fitter. He died in Melbourne on 2 Sep 1992, aged 82.



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