Dowrick, John

John Dowrick, known as Jack, was a fitter at the Railway Workshops at Newport before enlisting in the Army in 1940. Jack was born in St Arnaud, Victoria on 15 Apr 1905. He was detached to Mildura when he enlisted in the Army in 1940.  He was single at the time and named his mother as next of kin. His late father was a stationmaster at Footscray and Elsternwick in Melbourne.

Jack was an infantryman, a member of the 2/8th Battalion, 17th Brigade, Service No. VX4784. He sailed to the Middle East in April 1940 and fought at Tobruk. He was lightly wounded in January 1941.

In early April 1941, the 2/8th deployed to Greece. It fought a fierce battle with German troops at Vevi in the country's north on 11 and 12 April but, overstretched and assailed by a vastly superior force, was forced to withdraw. The battalion became disorganised, lost a great deal of its weapons and equipment, and many of its troops were separated. It played no significant role in the rest of the campaign. Jack was captured near the Corinth Canal. Those who managed to get to Kalamata were evacuated from Kalamata, in two ships, on the night of 26 April. 199 members of the battalion were taken straight back to Egypt, while another 394 were landed on Crete after their transport, "Costa Rica" was sunk. (Source: AWM).

Jack was trained from Corinth to Wolfsberg where he was assigned POW No. 3431 and then was deployed to 10029/GW at Klagenfurt. Inside the camp he was known as 'Pop,' probably because he was the oldest man in his hut (he was 36).

Wolfsberg I.D. Photo., June 1941 (J Dowick collection)

In October 1944 Jack, was suffering from a duodenal ulcer , was sent for treatment to the POW hospital at Spittal, 75 km to the north west of Klagenfurt. It's unclear if he returned to Klagenfurt.

Post-war, Jack was a boilermakerfor Victorian Railways at Ballarat. He married and had one son. Jack died 2 Feb 1971. He was 65.

This biography was compiled with the assistance of Narelle Wright, nee Dowrick, on 7 Jan 2017.

AWM Nominal Roll

Jack Dowrick, Puckapunyal, 1940. (J Dowick collection)

John Dowrick's cardigan made him an easy man to identify.

In this photo, my father, Kevin Byrne, is on Pop's right.

Jack, in later years. (J Dowick collection)