Leslie Thomislav Starcevich VC (1918 - 1989)

Ancestors

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Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Second World War 1.1.1 Victoria Cross 1.2 After the war 1.3 Legacy 2 Sources 2.1 Links

Biography

Leslie Thomislav (Thomas) "Tom" Starcevich ^[1] (1918-1989), soldier, was born on 5 September 1918 at Subiaco, Western Australia, third of ten children of Croatian-born Joseph Starcevich, a miner, and his English-born wife Gertrude May, née Waters.
Birth Registration  : (1841-1932) ^[2]
Surname | Given Names Sex | District | Number | and Year
Starcevich | Leslie T Male | Perth| 1965 | 1918

The family moved to Grass Patch, 80kms north of Esperance, in the 1920s, where the family continued to expand and Tom was educated at a local public school. Leaving school, he obtained work in a gold mine at Norseman.

Second World War

He enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 9th April 1941, ^[3] being posted to the 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion.^[4]
Of dark complexion and 5 ft 7 ins (170 cm) tall, he embarked for the Middle East on 9th September 1941. Tom's older brother, Joe, became a prisoner of war of the Japanese in February 1942 at the fall of Singapore. He survived the subsequent years of captivity in Changi Prison, on the Burma-Thailand railroad, and in Nagasaki, Japan. On 17th July 1942, during the battle for Ruin Ridge at El Alamein, Egypt, he was wounded in the thigh; he returned to Australia in February the following year.

In August 'Starcey' rejoined the battalion, now in New Guinea, and served in the campaign against the Japanese, at Lae and Finschhafen (Finschaven). Here he was wounded a second time. Tom was promoted to acting Corporal in December, although later relinquished the rank voluntarily.

Victoria Cross

Tom was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour at Beaufort, Borneo, on 28th June 1945, gazetted in November 1945. A section Bren gunner, when his section came under fire from two Japanese machine-gun posts, he went forward and attacked each post in turn, killing the occupants or forcing them to retreat. The Australian attack continued until they came under fire from another two machine-gun posts. 'Firing his Bren from the hip', Tom again went forward and single-handedly captured both posts. His citation read: "The outstanding gallantry of Private Starcevich in carrying out these attacks single-handed with complete disregard of his own safety resulted in the decisive success of the action."^[5] After the war the people of Beaufort erected a memorial to Starcevich and named the jungle track 'VC Road'.

After the war

Returning to Australia in January 1946, Starcevich was discharged from the AIF on 12th February.^[6] He took work as a car salesman in Perth and continued his military service in the Citizen Military Force.

On 10th December 1947 at the district registrar’s office he married divorcee, Kathleen Betty Warr, née Hardy. The couple lived at Subiaco until 1951, when they moved to a 2,000-acre (809ha) property near Carnamah, Western Australia, obtained under the war service scheme. Here he grew wheat and raised sheep, putting the horrors of war as far behind him as possible.^[7][8] He reportedly wanted to re-enlist in the Australian Army during the Korean War, but was 'talked out of doing so' by his wife. Unfortunately, the marriage did not last, ending in divorce in 1969.

Tom returned to Grass Patch in 1981 and took up a 100-acre (40.5-ha) farmlet, upon which he lived in a small shack. He was described during this latter stage of life as 'a modest and serious man with a liking for music, a good mate, with a quiet smile and dry sense of humour'.

He passed away on 17th November 1989 at Esperance, Western Australia, ^[9]
and was buried in the Esperance Public Lawn Cemetery.
He was survived by his two sons and daughter.