Harold Davis

Harold Reginald Davis was born on 25 September 1916 in Northam, Western Australia. He was one of 11 children. His father, William 'Bill' Davis, was the son of a Sikh and an Aboriginal woman. Harold's mother, Alice McPhee, was the daughter of an Afghan-Aboriginal man and an Aboriginal woman. Both Harold's parents were born in the Pilbara.

In Harold's childhood, the Davis family moved from Northam to Waroona and then Yarloop as Bill Davis moved between various jobs as a boiler manager, farm manager and timber worker. As a school child, Harold was known for being athletic and a bit tough. However, he was thoughtful at home, often caring for his younger siblings.

Harold was particularly close with his younger brother Jack. In 1932, the 2 brothers were sent to the Moore River Native Settlement to learn farm skills. It was a period when the Chief Protector of Aborigines controlled the lives of First Nations people under the Aborigines 1905 Act (WA). Jack later described Moore River as a hostile environment. The buildings were infested with rats, and fights often broke out in the dormitories.

A year later, Harold and Jack were returned to Yarloop by the state department for Aboriginals. After their father's accidental death in 1933, both brothers left Yarloop to find work. Australia was still recovering from the Great Depression.

Jack found work as a stockman, and later became a renowned poet.

Wartime service

After working as a labourer for some years, Harold joined the Australian Military Forces at Claremont Showgrounds on 18 June 1941. He listed his mother, Alice Bennell of Brookton, as his next of kin.

First Battle of El Alamein

After 3 weeks of training at Naval Base, Cockburn Sound, Harold transferred to Northam Army Camp. Then, in November 1941, he embarked with the 2/32nd Australian Infantry Battalion for the Middle East. In Egypt, the battalion undertook further training in the desert near Alexandria.

Between 1940 and late 1942, the British Empire and Dominion forces struggled against the Axis forces in North Africa. The Germans were trying to capture the Suez Canal and take control of the Middle Eastern oil fields.

In July 1942, Harold's unit was called into battle to lead an attack against the Axis advance during the First Battle of El Alamein.

The battalion moved inland from the coast on 7 July, and the first major attack began on 17 July. After heavy fighting, the 2/32nd captured the ridge line.

The Axis forces resisted and launched a counterattack with their tanks. During these attacks, the 2/32nd suffered heavy casualties, with nearly half of its men either killed or wounded. Over 200 men became prisoners of war (POWs), including Harold.

Captured as a prisoner of war

On Harold's Service and Casualty Form, someone noted on 17 July 1942 that he was ‘Reported missing believed POW’. He was not officially reported as a POW until 16 September 1942.

In 1945, Harold wrote about his capture:

After making a night attack on a certain position which we captured from the Italians, and not being able to dig in owing to the fact that the ground was hard and strong, in the morning my company was surrounded by German tanks, and not having anti-tank guns ... our C.O. gave the order to surrender.

[Harold Reginald Davis, NAA: B883, WX14427]

Harold was held in the Italian-run Benghazi POW transit camp until October 1942. He was then transported across the Mediterranean Sea to Bari in southern Italy.

In late November, Harold arrived at Campo 57, a large prison camp at Gruppignano in north-eastern Italy. He later wrote that he was captured in his shorts, shirt and boots. It wasn't until he reached Campo 57 that a fresh issue of clothing was provided via the Red Cross.

Campo 57 was notorious for its harsh conditions. Food quality was poor, and the housing was crowded and unsanitary. Pneumonia and kidney disease were common, and medical treatment was scarce. Over the course of World War II, some 1,200 Australians and 1,000 New Zealanders were interned there.

AWM P02793.009

In April 1943, Harold was transferred, along with other Australian prisoners, to Vercelli POW Camp 106. For 5 months, Harold worked 8-hour days on rice farms between Turin and Milan.

Later, Harold provided a report to the Australian Military Forces on the living conditions in Italian POW camps:

The General living conditions in the Camps were affected by wooden bedding, fair lighting, poor heating and very crowded. Rations were insufficient of poor quality and cooking facilities were poor. In Udine they were successfully receiving Red Cross comfort parcels. The Internment Staff were strict, but fair. The ordinary Italian soldiers were alright, but the fascists were apt to be a bit too strict.

[Jeffrey Peirce, Bunbury War Heroes]

On 10 September 1943, Harold and some other Australian prisoners successfully escaped from the Vercelli camp. Harold survived more than 2 years behind German enemy lines, relying on Italian locals for food, clothing and shelter.

When filling in a ‘Statement by repatriated Navy, Army, or Air Force military prisoners of war taken’ form for the Australian Military Forces, Harold wrote an account of what happened:

I escaped 10.7.43 stayed in the mountains until end of war, stayed with partisans, but mostly in a village called Gaby, where people kept me in food & clothes, lodging, especially a Russian woman named (Vira Wolff Meternich, Gaby).

[Harold Reginald Davis, NAA: B883, WX14427]

When filling in a ‘General questionnaire for British/American ex-prisoners of war’ form for M.I.9, Harold wrote:

After 10th July 1943, escape in the mountains with J. Nelson, Brownell W.A. (who later crossed into France). Stayed with Partisans, 3rd Brigade, Valley of Lys Mont at Gaby, in Province of Aosta, where the people kept me in food & lodging … I remained in the area of GABY from 29 Sept 43 till 29 April 45 when I contacted British troops. I operated with 3rd Brigade Valley of Lys, partisans, for about 3 months in the winter of 44 … On 29th April 45, I contacted Captain Bell (parachutist) who gave me leave to stay 2 months in the valley where I had been living. On 18 June 45 I was taken by car to TURIN where I reported to PW Repat Camp, & I was sent down to Naples by truck arriving 22 June 45.

[Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation Questionnaires, 1945-1946, WO344/85/2.]

The war in Europe ended when Germany surrendered on 7 May 1945.

After the war

Harold deplaned as a recovered POW at 1 AIF Transit Camp, UK, on 30 June 1945. He stayed in England for 2 months, then embarked on RMS Otranto for Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 21 September.

Harold was discharged from the Army on 6 November 1945. His war records show that he served 1,414 days overseas.

Harold married Alice Luvinia, or Lavinia, at Wagin Methodist Church in 1946. After the war, Harold played football for local clubs in Wagin and Narrogin.

He did not receive his Campaign Stars and Medals for his war service until 1956.

Harold passed away on 26 October 1979, aged 63. He is buried in an official Australian war grave in the Bunbury General Cemetery.