The 2/48th Battalion was Australia’s most highly decorated unit during WWII, having recieved 4 Victoria Cross Medals (three were awarded posthumously) and more then 80 other decorations. The memorial features the white and light blue insignia of the battalion both as the 1940-42 circular patch and the 1942-1945 T-shaped equivalent along with the symbol of the victoria cross. The words Nunquam Victus is the latin for “Never Defeated”.
The memorial inscription reads:
In memory of all members who served in 2/48th Infantry Battalion 2nd A.I.F
1940 – 1945BATTLE HONOURS
Tobruk The Salient
Tel El Eisa El Alamein
Lae Finchhafen Sattelberg
Borneo TarakanNunquam Victus
To comemorate eighty one years of service to Australia and to honour the men and women of the Corps who served our nation with dedication at home and abroad in peace and war.
[the memorial includes the names of four victoria cross recipients]
WX9858 Stan Gurney, WX10426 Percy Gratwick, SX7089 Bill Kibby and SX7964 Tom Derrick, DCM.
2/48th Infantry Battalion
The 2/48th battalion was intially part of the 26th Brigade and was raised in August 1940 at the Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide. The battlion began as a part of the 7th Division before being transferred to the 9th Division in early 1941. After the 2/48th basic training in Woodside they were shipped off to the Middle East where they would spend the following eight months defending the ‘fortress’ at Tobruk. The 2/48th Battalion was part of the force which withstood and defeated an Axis attack on Tobruk on Easter Monday (April 14) 1941, capturing nearly 800 officers and men.
When the army withdrew the 9th division from Tobruk, the 4/28th was sent to El Alamein, Egypt to combat the German and Italian forces. The first attack occured on the 10th July 1942 by advancing to Tel el Eise which forced a wedge between the German forces and the sea. By the morning of the 11th, roughly 400 prisoners were captured as well as Tel el Eise. Three of the 2/48th’s Victoria Crosses were received through the bravery of their soldiers during the following months. Each of these awarded posthumously following acts of valour when outnumbered and attempting to capture or destroy critical enemy posts. The battalion left El Alamein on 3rd December that year and returned to Sydney at the end of February 1943.
From September 1943 to February 1944 the battalion was sent to face Japanese battlements in New Guinea. Their conflicts included the battles around Lae, Finschhafen and Sattelberg. During this time Sergent Thomas “Driver Currie Derrick received the 4th Victoria Cross for the battalion by personally capturing ten Japanese positions and allowing the battalion to take Sattelberg the following day. Once arriving back in Australia in 1944, the Battalion returned back into conflict towards the end of the war in April 1945. For the following six months, the battalion and the 9th division were tasked with capturing Borneo and repelling the Japanese forces there. Whilst holding the island of Tarakan, the ranks of the 2/48 drew thinner following the surrender of Japan until the entire battalion was disbanded on 25th October 1945.
