Studio portrait of NX53269 Gunner (Gnr) Eric Kenneth Triggs, 17 Anti Tank Battery, of Tuggerah, ...

Studio portrait of NX53269 Gunner (Gnr) Eric Kenneth Triggs, 17 Anti Tank Battery, of Tuggerah, NSW. The name Eric Kenneth Triggs was an alias used because he was under age at the time of enlistment in June 1940. His actual name was Keith Alwyn Trigg. Gnr Triggs served in 22 Battalion, 2/20 Battalion and then 22 Anti Tank Company. In August 1941 he was transferred to 17 Anti Tank Battery and served in New Britain. Following the Japanese invasion of January 1942, he was taken prisoner of war (POW) and held at Rabaul. On 22 June 1942 Gnr Triggs was one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 17 Anti Tank Battery, No. 1 Independent Company, 2/22 Battalion, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.