Studio portrait of SX11236 Private (Pte) Mervyn James Denton, 2/43 Battalion. A trapper prior to ...

Studio portrait of SX11236 Private (Pte) Mervyn James Denton, 2/43 Battalion. A trapper prior to enlisting on 6 February 1941, his brothers Cyril and Ron also enlisted and served during the Second World War. Their sister, Irene Denton, served with the Australian Women’s Land Army. He embarked for service in the Middle East on 10 April 1941. Pte Denton was hospitalised for several weeks in Kantara before travelling by sea to join the 2/43rd Battalion in besieged Tobruk in mid-July.

For eight months in 1941 British and Commonwealth forces held the siege fortress of Tobruk against surrounding German and Italian forces. For much of this time the majority of soldiers holding the outer perimeter and commanding the fortress were Australian. In late April/early May the Germans captured a section of Tobruk’s perimeter: the high ground on the Ras el Medauur feature (Hill 209). This area became known as “the Salient”. The Australians made repeated attacks in the Salient in May and August to recapture the lost ground but were beaten back with heavy casualties.

Pte Denton was with his battalion for less than three weeks when it participated in an attack on the Salient on the 3rd of August. The 2/43rd Battalion suffered more than 100 casualties in the failed attack, including more than 30 men killed and missing. Pte Deaton was among the dead.
His body was recovered and he was buried in Tobruk War Cemetery. He was 27 years old.