The 2/3rd Battlion was raised in South Australia in June 1940. However, B Company came from Victroia, C Company from Tasmania, and D Company from Western Australia. Then in April 1941, the whole battalion was brought together and togther shipped out to the Middle East. Notable campaigns: the Aitape-Wewak Campaign, the Battle of Damour and the Syrian Campaign.
Australian War Memorial, ‘2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion’, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56172 , accessed 27 August 2018
The memorial inscription reads:
[AIF Insignia]
[Coloured Patch]2/3RD AUSTRALIAN MACHINE GUN BATTALION
FORMED ON THE 17TH JUNE 1940 AT WAYVILLE
UNDER THE COMMAND OF LT. COL.A.S. BLACKBURN V.C.
EMBARKED FROM WOODSIDE ON THE 8TH APRIL 1941 FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
SERVED IN PALESTINE, LEBANON & SYRIA
710 OFFICERS & MEN TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR IN JAVA
ON THE 8TH MARCH 1942
REMAINDER OF BATTALION REINFORCED IN AUSTRALIA
UNDER THE COMMAND OF LT. COL. R.R. GORDON
UNIT THEN SERVED IN NEW GUINEA, MERAUKE, AITAPE & WEWAK
LEST WE FORGET
