OBJECTS OF THE ASSOCIATION

• To preserve the memory and records of those who served with the 2/20th Battalion A.I.F. and guard their good name and interests;
• To strengthen the ties of friendship created by service with the 2/20th Battalion A.I.F.; and
• To continue the unique ethos of camaraderie that sustained the members of the 2/20th battalion A.I.F. and 8th Division for the benefit of successive generations within the 8th Division family.

ANZAC Day April 2020

Organisation underway for the 2020 Sydney march.

Details when finalised will be on Facebook and Web Page.

THUMBS UP

The Annual Newsletter of the 2/20th Battalion Assoc. Click on the link below to open the current newsletter.

2019 Thumbs up

EVENTS

• 75th Anniversary beginning of Sandakan Death Marches 28th January 2020
  • The 2/20th had no survivors from this infamous death march in Borneo.
• The Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial on the 28th January, will honour 2/18th member Fred Lindsay Staggs.

Fall of Singapore Service 15^th February

Last Post Ceremony.

Saturday 15/02/2020 Canberra.

This year’s Last Post Ceremony on the Fall of Singapore day honours Private Gordon William Blair 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion killed in action 27/01/1942.

David Sidney Thompson as a corporal 2/20th Australian Infantry Battalion and a prisoner of the Japanese, 1940-1945, interviewed by Tim Bowden (1982)

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1008148

2/20th Australian Infantry Battalion Member to Receive Posthumous Award

Private James O’Dea NX77958 aka James Henry Arthur Whitcombe was born in Newcastle on the 26/9/1912. James was an accomplished boxer in the 1930′s and fought in various locations including Sydney and Ballina. Pte James O’Dea was captured by the Japanese at the Fall Of Singapore. On the 16/3/1942, Pte O’Dea and 5 other men (2 from the 2/18th, 2 from the 2/10th Ambulance and 1 from the 8 Div HQ) escaped Changi, stole a boat but were recaptured while wading ashore on the Malay side of the Johore Straight. Pte O’Dea and the 5 other men were executed on the 17/3/1942. On the 27/8/2018 the Minister For Defence Personnel Darren Chester announced that 28 servicemen including Pte O’Dea and the other 5 Men would be posthumously awarded The Commendation For Gallantry.

Thank you to Wendy Baker for your research.

Vale

NX10935, Private Max Ernest DENNING

NX72734, Private Frank Clem SMITH

NNX50646, Private Leslie WEST

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