Kevin Patrick CASEY was born on 12 June 1921 at North Arm, Queensland[1], the son of Edward Bernard Casey and Annie Elizabeth Kunde.
He enlisted in the Australian Army Militia in Brisbane, QLD on 31 Jul 1941 as a Gunner (Q89526) in the Royal Australian Artillery Coastal Command. At the time he was single, a houseman and was living in Newmarket, QLD. He had brown hair and hazel eyes.
He commenced duty at Fort Lytton, QLD on 01 Aug 1941.
He embarked in Brisbane on the "Macdhui" on 27 Sep 1941 for Rabaul, New Britain in the Territory of New Guinea, disembarking there on 08 Oct 1941 as part of "Lark Force" Royal Australian Artillery, Rabaul Heavy Battery, protecting the harbour.
The battery was destroyed by Japanese bombing ahead of the invasion on 23 Jan 1942.
He was captured after the invasion at Keravat and became a Prisoner of War, initially held at Rabaul.
He was among those who were able to write a carefully scripted latter to next of kin advising that he was a POW. The letters were dropped from a Japanese plane over Port Moresby, Papua.[2]
He died on board the "Montevideo Maru" when it was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of the Philippines on 01 Jul 1942, en route from Rabaul to Hainan where he was destined for forced labour.
He was posthumously enrolled in the 2nd AIF as QX64921.
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Categories: North Arm, Queensland | Rabaul Heavy Battery, Australian Army, World War II | Montevideo Maru Sinking, 1942 | Rabaul War Cemetery and Memorial, Papua New Guinea | Rabaul Montevideo Maru War Memorial, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea | Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Lake Wendouree, Victoria | Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Prisoners of War, Australia, World War II | Died while Prisoner of War, Australia, World War II