Duncan Lindsay Beresford Goslett OBE MC (1911-1992)

LT COL Duncan Lindsay Beresford Goslett OBE MC

Born 4 Jan 1911 in Carlton, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Son of William Beresford Goslett and Alma Henrietta (Garlick) Goslett

Brother of Edward Nelson Beresford Goslett

Husband of Tamara Ivanova Johnson (Kouznetsova) Goslett — married 1938 (to before 1949) in Taree, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Ailsa Marjorie (Donald) Goslett — married 1949 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia

[children unknown]

Died 20 May 1992 at age 81 in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kenneth Evans

[send private message]

Profile last modified 8 Jan 2024 | Created 24 Oct 2018

This page has been accessed 353 times.

1 Biography
2 Sources
3 See also

Biography

Formative years

Duncan Goslett OBE MC is Notable.

Duncan Goslett OBE MC was born in Victoria, Australia

Duncan Goslett OBE MC is an Anzac who served in World War Two.

Duncan Lindsay Beresford Goslett OBE MC ED was born on 4th January 1911 in the (now Royal) Women's Hospital, Smith Ward, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. He was the older son of William Goslett and Alma Garlick. ^[1] Duncan's mother passed away after giving birth to another son, Ted, the following year, back in Taree, on New South Wales' Mid-North Coast from where his mother's family came. His Dad married again in 1920, in Victoria, and passed away there in 1930. It is assumed that the boys remained with their mother's family during this time.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Commonwealth Military Force (Militia), later known as the Australian Military Force, before 1937.

Duncan married Tamara Kouznetsova in 1938 in Taree. ^[2] They had a son, Peter, but were later divorced. Tamara passed away in 1990, aged seventy years.

Second World War

Duncan Goslett OBE MC is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Second Australian Imperial Force 1939-1945
2/2nd Infantry Battalion; 2nd Australian War Crimes Section

On 25th October 1939 Duncan was commissioned as an officer in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF), his nation's all-volunteer expeditionary force for the Second World War. ^[3] He was posted to the newly-formed 2/2nd Infantry Battalion. After conducting basic training at the newly-opened Ingleburn Camp on the south western outskirts of Greater Sydney, the battalion sailed for overseas service on 10th January 1940. After disembarking in Egypt on 13th February, the 2/2nd trained with the rest (2/1st, 2/3rd and 2/4th Battalions) of the 16th Brigade in Palestine until the end of August, before moving to Egypt to carry out its final preparations for operations with the 6th Division. ^[4]

The 2/2nd Battalion's first campaign of the war was the advance from Egypt into eastern Libya in January and February 1941. It was involved in the highly-successful attacks to capture Bardia (3-5th January) and Tobruk (21-22nd January), and remained as part of the Tobruk garrison when the advance continued. ^[4] Duncan, then a Captain, was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for 'outstanding courage, coolness and efficiency at Bardia and Tobruk in January 1941' in North Africa. ^[5]^[6]

From 7th March to May 1941 the 6th Division deployed to the disastrous Greece campaign (Aussie diggers in this campaign became ANZACs as the 6th Division became a formation of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps). The 2/2nd occupied positions at Veria, in northern Greece, on 7th April, but a succession of withdrawals by the Allies meant that the battalion did not meet the enemy in battle until 18th April – at Tempe (Pinios) Gorge. There, in a desperate fight, the 2/2nd blocked German movement through the gorge to permit the safe withdrawal of Allied forces further south. It held its ground until overwhelmed by vastly superior German forces. Some parties from the battalion later managed to rejoin the main withdrawal south, and were eventually evacuated by the Allied navies, while others made epic escapes through the Greek islands. A group of 189 members of the 2/2nd subsequently fought with the 16th Brigade Composite Battalion on Crete in early May before once more evacuating. ^[4]

Avoiding capture by the overwhelming German paratroops, Duncan was evacuated to Palestine, where a depleted and eventually reinforced battalion served as a garrison force in the snowy fields of northern Syria between October 1941 and January 1942. ^[4]

On their way home to Australia in early 1942 (as a result of Japan entering the war), the 16th and 17th Brigades were diverted to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for several months (27rd March and 13th July) as a garrison force and deterrent to Japan expanding into the Indian Ocean. Whilst encountering ship-borne air attacks whilst there, no amphibious invasion was made. ^[4]

Duncan received a promotion to Major about this time. After an ever-too-brief visit back home Duncan and the whole 6th Division deployed to Papua, where they participated in the infamous Kokoda Track and Northern Beachhead campaigns from September 1942 until early 1943. Fighting major engagements for the 2/2nd were at Templeton's Crossing (20th October), Oivi (5-12th November), and on the Sanananda Track (21st November-10th December), the battalion suffering heavily from both wounds and sickness. It arrived in Port Moresby on 21st September 670 strong, but withdrew from the Sanananda Track with only 88 men! ^[4]

A long training spell followed in North Queensland, before one further deployment, to New Guinea; and the Aitape-Wewak campaign from December 1944 to August 1945. This campaign was been treated contemptuously by many historians and regarded as unnecessary, however, these historians are missing the point that there were 100,000 Japanese soldiers in the region – then Australian soil, New Guinea (and Papua) being Mandated Territories of Australia. If given the opportunity to refit and rebuild, the war could have gone on in New Guinea for some years regardless of Japan's capitulation elsewhere. ^[4] For his six years of war service Duncan was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.

Post-war military service

Duncan reverted to the Australian Military Force (AMF) upon the AIF's disbandment and served in the 2nd Australian War Crimes Section in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The unit's, and Duncan's as commanding officer, role was to uncover and investigate the unlawful killing of civilians or prisoners, and cruel treatment, by members of Japan's Imperial Army and Navy. It was whilst in Japan, in 1947, that Duncan was presented his Military Cross. ^[6]

LT COL Duncan Goslett (seated behind desk),
with SGT Webster, LT Peter Withycombe, CAPT Finlay Munro,
CAPT Douglas Campbell, MAJ Harold Williams and LT 'Sandy' Sanderson

Back in Australia, Duncan married a second time, to Ailsa Donald in 1949 in New South Wales. ^[7]

Duncan was awarded the Eficiency Decoration for twenty years service as an Officer in the Militia (later known as CMF or Army Reserve) forces. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the June 1957 Queen's Birthday Honours List, in 'recognition of service to the Australian Army'. ^[8]^[9]

Mobilised once more, Duncan deployed to the Malayan Emergency as a member of the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade – a guerrilla state of emergency or war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters and the military forces of the Federation of Malaya and British Empire – returning home aboard the MV Straat Banka in April 1960. ^[10] For these extended areas of service he was awarded the Australian Service Medal 1945-75.

It is not presently known when Duncan retired from the Army, but it would have been on or before his 57th birth anniversary in January 1968.

What former career soldiers do

What did Duncan Goslett do after the Army? Where did he and Ailsa live? Are you able to help?

Final parade

Ailsa and Duncan retired to Clareville Beach, bordered by Avalon Beach, Bilgola Plateau and Newport on Sydney's beautiful northern beaches.

Unfortunately, Ailsa passed away there soon afterward, in October 1977. His brother Ted passed in 1991 in Taree. Duncan passed away on 20th May 1992 in Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital, New South Wales, aged 81 years, as a result of myocardial infarction and is buried in Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens, North Ryde. ^[11] He is survived by his son, Peter Goslett MPh, and two grandchildren. Peter has been married to Margaretha Johanna Pesch (1943-83) and was then married to Maria Maya Vladimrivonva Deriugina (1941-2015).