Sergeant Everett Fitzpatrick - 5/257

 

Sergeant Everett Fitzpatrick was born in Nottingham, England in 1921.  His family emigrated to Perth, and he attended the Christian Brothers College in Fremantle, where he was an army cadet. Fitzpatrick enlisted for service in World War II in May 1940.

Photo of Fitzpatrick supplied by his niece. 
https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/617307

During WWII Fitzpatrick was captured by the Japanese in Timor in early 1942 and taken to Singapore to Changi Prison. His name (Gunner E. M. Fitzpatrick) appears in a published list of Changi POWs in the Australian press in 1945. [1]  He arrived back in Perth in October 1945 with other POWs on the liner Strathmore.[2]

Fitzpatrick rejoined the army in 1950 to go to Korea.  When he left Perth to travel to Japan for training for the K force, Fitzpatrick left behind his wife who he had married earlier that year. [3]  Fitzpatrick arrived in Korea with the Third Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, (3RAR), at the end of September 1950.  In late October, 3RAR was ordered to Pakchon in North Korea. Several kilometres before Pakchon 3RAR arrived at a bridge that had been heavily damaged by enemy troops, with one span completely destroyed.  Australian soldiers crossed the bridge using ladders as a makeshift span. A and B companies of 3RAR were ordered to dig in on the enemy side of the broken bridge to provided cover for American troops working on restoring bridges over the river so heavy equipment such as tanks could be advanced.[4]  The fighting over this Broken Bridge left 8 Australian soldiers dead.  Sergeant Fitzpatrick was one of those 8 soldiers and died of wounds on 26 October 1950, less than one month after arriving in Korea.

The remains of Sergeant Fitzpatrick were recovered from North Korea in 1954 in Operation Glory. Operation Glory was an exchange of remains of allied and communist soldiers organized by the United States. Some of the remains, including Fitzpatrick’s had been buried in temporary military cemeteries in North Korea, close to their place of death.  Fitzpatrick’s remains were reinterned in the United Nations Military Cemetery in Busan, South Korea in 1955.

Sergeant Fitzpatrick was left a floral tribute by his sister Eileen and his nieces at the recent dedication of the Perth Korean War Memorial in Kings Park. There is also a memorial to him in the Fremantle Cemetery.   His service in WWII and in Korea has not been forgotten.


Floral tribute on Perth Korean War Memorial


 

https://billiongraves.com/grave/Everett-Michael-Fitzpatrick/7785337

 Endnotes

[1] MORE NAMES OF AUSTRALIAN POW's AT SINGAPORE (1945, September 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic : 1848 - 1957), p. 2. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article975785 

[2] THE STRATHMORE (1945, October 16). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44825226

 [3] Westralians Killed in (1950, November 2). Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95753655

 [4] Out in the Cold: Australia's involvement in the Korean War - Kujin/Broken Bridge.  https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/korea/operations/kujin. Accessed 20 August, 2023

 





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