Life Story
Education: Adelaide High School
Clubs & Affiliations: Adelaide Cricket Club
One of eight children and born into a large farming family, Ralph left school and
was working as a bank teller at the outbreak of war. He decided he wanted to joint
the army so enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force's 2/48th Battalion on
14 June 1940, two days after marrying his fiancée, Ronte. He was posted first to
North Africa and subsequently seconded as a map-making specialist to ANZAC
headquarters in the Greek Campaign. Whilst in Greek, his unit was over-run by
German forces so he escaped and along with six companions, he commandeered
a boat, rowing for two weeks down the east coast of Greece in an attempt to
escaped. The attempt to evade capture was unsuccessful and in May 1941 Ralph
and his friends were captured. Suffering from malaria and dysentery contracted in
the holding camp at Corinth, Ralph then endured an appalling journey by train to
Maribor prison camp in southern Austria, now part of Slovenia. Regaining his
health, he concentrated on learning the Slovene language to communicate with the
local partisans as well as German dialects, and he became the camp interpreter to
the Kommandant. He was also elected camp leader where he communicated
prisoners' grievances to the Kommandant.
The appalling conditions and deprivations Ralph and the other prisoners endured
hardened his resolve to facilitate a mass escape. Whilst out on a work detail,
Ralph and several other prisoners managed to escape the guards, but Ralph
couldn't help but think of the fate of the other POWs still imprisoned in the Maribor
camp, so he convinced the others to return for them. This time the escape was of
all the 100 prisoners of the Maribor work camp. They set off on foot, 200 miles
south from Maribor to Semič, the only safe route to flee occupied Europe. The
walk. Took two weeks walking through forests and valleys before crossing the
mountains, all with the Germans in pursuit. At one point the were attacked by a
German patrol and the men, forgetting their military training after so long in
captivity, just scattered. The escapees re-grouped but found that 6 of their number
were missing. When they finally reached Semic, they were taken to Bari in five
DC-3 planes and from there they were they finally returned home. On arrival in Bari
they found that the six men that had been lost after the encounter with the German
patrol had all also made it through and they were reunited.
Ralph returned Australia in November 1944, and after three months leave he was
posted to the staff of a German POW camp in Victoria as an interpreter. He was
subsequently promoted to sergeant and was discharged in November 1945.
Initially returning to banking, after a year he moved into life insurance and he went
on to become the inaugural manager for Legal and General in South Australia. He
had three children and enjoyed cricket and tennis as. Well as signing in the local
church choir.
Voices
of
War
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