Walter Irvine Summons (1920)

Born 6 Apr 1920 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

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Biography

Walter Irvine Summons was born on 6th April 1920 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. He was the son of Walter Summons and Viva Sproule.

Walter Summons is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Second Australian Imperial Force 1940-1947
2/2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion

Walter Summons was a prisoner of war of Vichy France and of Japan during the Second World War.

On 9th May 1940 Walter was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Second Australian Imperial Force and allocated to the 2/2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion.

Captured on 17th June 1941 by the Vichy French during his first campaign whilst attempting to capture a fortress near Merdjayoun, Syria, Walter became a prisoner-of-war, but with a difference. His captors wanted to move the officers to German-occupied France and to do entrained their prisoners for a picturesque journey through Yugoslavia, Austria, Germany and France, to the Mediterranean port of Marseilles. From there, the prisoners were returned to Lebanon in first class cabins aboard the Champollion and exchanged on 14th August for high-ranking Vichy officers.

Whilst returning to Australia in 1942, the 2/2nd Battalion was diverted to Java, in Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), with Walter then posted as Intelligence Officer. Along with Dutch, British and American forces it was not long before the Australians were forced to surrender to Japanese forces. Walter became a prisoner-of-war for the second time, initially incarcerated at Batavia but then sent to the Thai-Burma railway. Repatriated to Australia following the war, he was demobilised on 17th January 1947. He was issued the campaign and service medals: 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.

Walter recorded his memoirs and published them in 1946 as Twice Their Prisoner.

Victoria Birth. ^[1]

• Vic BDM SUMMONS - Walter Irvine - Birth

Mother, Viva St George SPROULE Father: Walter Ernest Isaac @ HAWTHORN Yr:1920

'Wartime Issue 95 Winter 2021: Prisoner of the French' ^[2]

POW Memorial Ballarat.^[2][3]

Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #13209/1920
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Bou, Jean. 'Wartime Issue 95 Winter 2021: Prisoner of the French'; accessed 20 Jul 2021
3. ↑ POW Memorial Ballarat; accessed 20 Jul 2021
4. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: VX14642 Lieutenant Walter Irvine Summons; accessed 20 Jul 2021