| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | P03169.005 |
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Print silver gelatin |
| Maker |
Restella Studios |
| Date made | 1940 - 1942 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Studio portrait of WX8372 Corporal (Cpl) Herbert Ernest (Bert) Mason, 2/28th Battalion. Cpl Mason ...
Description
Studio portrait of WX8372 Corporal (Cpl) Herbert Ernest (Bert) Mason, 2/28th Battalion. Cpl Mason enlisted on 4 September 1940 and arrived in the Middle East on 2 February 1941, he was reported missing on 27 July 1942 and was later confirmed as a prisoner of war (POW). On the 16 August 1942 Cpl Mason along with an estimated 2,000 other POWs from the holding camp at Benghazi were loaded into the holds of the Italian freighter Nino Bixio. About 200 Australians and 300 New Zealand and British troops were crowded into the No. 1 hold (front). At 3.00pm on the 17 August 1942 the Nini Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine, one torpedo struck the engine room and another the crowded No. 1 hold. The ship did not sink and was towed to the Greek port of Navarino and the wounded taken off. The survivors were kept on the ship to to carry up the dead and assist with the identification. Of the 504 men in the No. 1 hold only 70 survived. Cpl Mason was killed, his body was not recovered and he has no known grave; his name is commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial.