Informal portrait of NX55887 Private Alan Albert Thorncraft, 2/30 Battalion in training camp. ...

Accession Number P10992.003
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Digital file TIFF
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia: New South Wales, Sydney, Wallgrove
Date made 3 November 1940
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Informal portrait of NX55887 Private Alan Albert Thorncraft, 2/30 Battalion in training camp. Shortly before he was to embark for service with the 8th Division in Malaya, Pte Thorncraft was involved in an accident when a Bren gun carrier carrying four men developed a defect in the side chain. The vehicle crashed through a bridge and dropped 15 feet, upside down in a dry creek on the Limekilns Road near Bathurst, NSW. The men were trapped in the carrier and unconscious for over an hour, until it was lifted. One man VX35665 Private Herbert Ivar Martin was killed; Captain Pride suffered shock and petrol burns, Corporal Thorncraft suffered both legs broken and the fourth man was Private Swaddling (unknown injuries).