The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Sullivan
First Name:
Edmund Herbert
Nick Name:
Eddie or Ed
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX7563
Classification:
Driver
Company:
Headquarters Company, No. 3 Platoon Administrative.
Enlisted:
6.08.1940
DOB:
29.05.1910
Place of Birth:
Cottesloe, Western Australia
Father's Name:
Edmund Archer Sullivan
Mothers's Name:
Margaret Elsie Sullivan (nee Trend)
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Tractor Driver
Memorial:
Kranji War Cemetery, Plot 1, Row A, Grave 6, Age 31.
Cause of Death:
Killed in Action
Place of Death:
Hill 200, Ulu Pandan
Date of Death:
12.02.1942
Buried:
Where killed at map reference 763132 by Major A. Cough Party on 21.12.1942.

General Description

Eddie Sullivan enlisted AIF Aug 1940 and later joined 2/4th HQ Company No. 3 Platoon as a Driver under Commanding Officer Capt Phelps.   He was KIA 12 Feb 1942 aged 32 years at Hill 200 Ulu Pandan.
Please read further about Ulu Pandan.
Sullivan’s body was recovered by Major Cough Party 21 Dc 1942.
Pte E.H. Sullivan WX7583
Pte E.H. Sullivan WX7583

 

Pte E.H. Sullivan WX7583
Pte E.H. Sullivan WX7583

 

 

 

 

Dedicated by His Family on 22 August 2009

Biography presented during plaque dedication:

‘Private Edmund Herbert Sullivan of 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion of 8 Division was born in Cottesloe in May 1910 and had two brothers and a sister. Their parents were Edmund Archer and Margaret Elsie Sullivan and they resided in Mosman Park.
Edmund junior attended Cottesloe Primary School and Fremantle Boys’ school and was later employed as a storeman and driver for Shell Oil Company.
He lived in Mosman Park with his wife Val and their children Alan and Gaye. He enlisted at Claremont in August 1940 and was posted to 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion.
After training at Northam, Adelaide and Darwin, the battalion sailed on HMT Aquitania to Port Moresby. Then, because of an attack on Rabaul, the convoy turned around and sailed to Sydney then to Fremantle and finally to Singapore, reaching there in late January 1942.
The battalion was in action almost immediately and suffered heavy casualties with one third of the battalion being killed or wounded.
Private Edmund Herbert Sullivan, service number WX7563, was killed in action at Singapore on the 12th February 1942. He was 31 years of age.’

 

 

Eddie’s parents Edmund Archer Sullivan and Margaret Elsie Trend married Cottesloe in 1909.  Margaret ‘Elsie’ Trend was born Horsham, Victoria and died in 1989.  Edmund known as ‘Eddie’ Archer Sullivan was born Fitzroy, Victoria and he died 1966.
Eddie (Jnr) was the eldest of three surviving children and the Sullivan family resided in Cottesloe.  ‘Eddie’ Sullivan enlisted in WW1 in 1917, returning home in 1919.  Elsie took care of their three children while he was away.
In 1926 Elsie divorced her husband who at the time was an engineer working with the State Implement Works. The newspapers reported Eddie (Snr) changed after the war and began living a single life, referring to him as a ‘beach pirate’. Eddie was a member of Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club and spent much time at the beach.
At that time Eddie (Jnr) was 15 years old, and his siblings 14 and 10.  It would have been most distressing for the family, with details of the divorce written across the newspapers, particular those which printed sensational headlines to increase sales.
Eddie married in 1934 at Moora to Valentine ‘Val’ Synnot and in the following years they had two children, Allan and Gay. Allan Edmund Sullivan was born in 1935 at Dalwallinu Hospital.  Eddy and Val were residing at Ballidu.
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