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| Tom Laracy in his vegetable garden at Klagenfurt |
Remnants of this battalion were transferred to the 6th Division and sent to Greece. Tom was one of them. He was captured in Kalamata, Greece on 29 Apr 1941.
My father, Kevin Byrne, once told me a humorous story about Tom Laracy and his good friend 'Possum Bill' (I can't remember his proper name). I have included this story on this site. It's called "Brailoss Pass."
Tom's record on the AWM website states that he was born at Rushworth, Victoria on 14 Jun 1907. If the photo of Tom at the Klagenfurt camp was taken in, say, 1943, Tom would have been about 36.
I admit to thinking to myself that he was the oldest looking 36 year-old I'd ever seen. While researching this article I found that Tom died in Beechworth, Victoria in 1986. Beechworth was the home of a large and well-known mental and palliative care hospital. It was not too distant from Barnawartha, Tom's home town.
The Barnawartha Cemetery has a plaque that commemorates the lives of Tom and his wife, Marie. It show's that Tom was not born in 1906 but in 1899. So in the above photo, Tom would have been aged 44.
AWM Nominal Roll
Thomas William Laracy is my Grandfather. He tried to enlist in WW1, putting his age up. His uncles found him and pulled him out of the line. He put his age down to enlist in WW2.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this photo of him before, I'm sure my Mother and Uncles would love to see any other photo you may have. Thank you.
Actually the photo above is not Thomas. Thomas is the man on the RHS from your photo contained within the camp kitchen garden shot.
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