Born at Nabiac, NSW on the 8th of April 1919 (1920 Stroud) to Henry and Bridget, Terrence was the 2nd of their children.
His father having died in 1939, he gave his mother Bridgit Paff of Bullby Brush via Kramback as his next of kin.
Working on a dairy, at the time, Terry enlisted at Paddington on the 6th of March 1941 marching in to General Details Depot, Canterbury. His father having died in 1939, he gave his mother Bridgit Paff of Bullby Brush via Kramback as his next of kin.
After enlistment he was transferred to the 5th Training Battalion at Tamworth, arriving on the 8th of March. Terry went on pre-embarkation leave from the 30th of April to the 7th of May, before being transferred to EC Australian Army Medical Corps Training Depot on the 16th of May and taken on strength 5th Training Battalion on the 17th. He was appointed Acting Corporal on the 30th of May.
The 2/4th Battalion was raised for service as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, deploying to the Middle East in early 1940. The battalion took part in the early fighting in North Africa in early 1941 along with the rest of the 6th Division, before being sent to Greece and then Crete, where it was heavily engaged and suffered heavy losses. The battalion was rebuilt in Palestine, the battalion and undertook occupation duties in Syria.
Terry embarked aboard ‘US 11 A’ from Sydney on the 27th of June disembarking Middle East on the 31st of July and reverted to Private on disembarkation. He was evacuated to the 1st General Hospital with suspected dysentery on the 14th of August and transferred to the 1st ACD on the 24th where his condition was confirmed.
On the 1st of September he was discharged, and on the 4th he marched in to the 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion (AITB) from the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) Training Wing. Marching out of the 19th AITB, he was taken on strength with the 2nd/4th Battalion on the 21st of September.
On 30th of September he was evacuated from to the 2/2nd Australian Field Ambulance to the 53rd British General Hospital on the 6th of November and then transferred to the 9th Australian General Hospital on the 23rd of November.
In early 1942, the 2/4th returned to Australia in response to Japan’s entry into the war. Embarking at Port Tewfik aboard the Rajula on the 19th of February, they disembarked at Adelaide on the 28th of March. After a fortnight’s leave, the 2/4th Battalion, which had been temporarily headquartered around Mount Lofty in South Australia, was ordered north to Darwin in late May 1942. They remained there until June 1943, when the battalion was moved to northern Queensland, along with the rest of the 19th Brigade, aboard the ‘HMT Duntroon’.
As the division was brought back up to strength, a long period of training followed. Consequently, it was not until late in the war that the 2/4th was committed to its first, and only, campaign against the Japanese. On the 28th of October 1944 they embarked at Cairns aboard ‘USAT Mexico’ and disembarked Aitepe on the 1st of November. Terry was ‘Killed in Action’ on the 21st of December 1944, aged 25 years.
