Collerson, Roy John Wilmot (Sergeant, b.1906 - d.1986)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of NX18788 Sergeant Roy John Wilmot Collerson, 2/5 Australian General Hospital and 1 Australian Base Department Medical Stores, Second Australian Imperial Force, Australia, at sea, the Middle East and Greece, 1940-1944.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Contains two folders of material relating to Sergeant Roy John Wilmot Collerson.

Folder 1 of 2 consists of one diary of Sergeant Collerson, containing entries dated between 11 October 1940 and 11 March 1942. This diary was written during Sergeant Collerson’s embarkation and early service with 2/5 Australian General Hospital in the Middle East and Greece. In his diary, Sergeant Collerson writes about his embarkation from Sydney, travelling in convoy with other ships, having onshore leave in Bombay, arriving in Egypt, sightseeing while on leave in Egypt, his impressions of the local environments, visiting a war cemetery, establishing a hospital camp, travelling to Greece, numerous air raids, attending to patients, slowly travelling to evacuation points on foot and by truck, taking cover in orchards and olive groves, being bombarded by enemy aircraft, evacuating to a naval vessel, and arriving on Crete. He then goes on to write about resting on Crete, further raids by German aircraft, evacuating on a small ship, arriving back in Egypt, transferring to 1 Australian Base Department Medical Stores unit, and returning to Australia via Ceylon. This diary also contains a brief list of places in Australia visited by Sergeant Collerson in 1943 and 1944.

Folder 2 of 2 consists of one typed transcript of diary of Sergeant Collerson. This transcript includes an account of Sergeant Collerson’s early life, enlistment and post-war life, compiled by his son, John Collerson.