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Introduction

The following information and chronological table is the WW2 Service record of Albert John Spencer (known as "Spen" to his family) READ b 15 Jun 1901, the son of Albert Jesse READ and Henrietta Louisa LEWIS who married 6 Jan 1899.

He married Edith Helena SAYWELL, daughter of Arthur James and Gertrude May SAYWELL 6 Jul 1929. Edith died on 18 Aug 1971 as the result of a vehicle acccident six weeks before.

Spencer married Doris REID in 1973. He died 3 Feb 1985 at PORT MACQUARIE.

Spencer enlists in the Army in Paddington NSW on 6 Mar 1942 at the age of 38, giving his occupation as Commercial Traveller and is allotted to the Royal Australian Engineers and while initially sent for training with the 8th Infantry Training Battalion he is immediately transferred to the 3rd Pioneer Company.

Within 20 days he is detached to the 5th Ordnance Ammunition Company spending about 7 weeks with that unit before returning to the Pioneer Company for further training.

On completion of that training he embarks from TOWNSVILLE to PORT MORESBY where he serves with the 30th Employment Company, a maintenance unit which is described below, following his service record.

He returns to TOWNSVILLE in June 1943 and remains with that unit until Jan 1945 when he is shipped out to MOROTAI where he serves with the 30th Works Company, which appears to be exactly the same unit he served with in NEW GUINEA, renamed, the Works and Employment titles apparently being interchangeable.

In August 1945 he is transferred to the 8th Australian Prisoner of War Reception Camp on MORATAI and less than a week later embarks for MANILLA and transfer to the 3rd Prisoner of War Group.

The move to MANILLA is overtaken by events, with repatriation of Australian Prisoners of War from there being completed by the end of October 1945. [Extract from 2nd/4th Machinegun Battalion web site.]

This is confirmed by an article in the Brisbane Telegraph of Sat 13 Oct 1945 which states that "All Australian prisoners of war will have been evacuated from Manila [sic] by Monday. Four Catalinas and one Liberator left at dawn today with 88 former prisoners, and the final 58 will be taken out on Sunday or Monday Morning at the latest".

He is in MANILLA for less than a month and embarks from there on the "WILLIAM E CHANNING" to SYDNEY and is discharged due to demobilisation on 5 Dec 1945.

NB. Research on the "WILLIAM E. CHANNING" shows that it is decommissioned in 1942. I suspect a typo may be at work.

After the war Spencer and Edith go into partnership in an uphostery business expanding later into electrical and furniture, with two furniture stores in FAIRFIELD.

In addition to his businesses he is a respected senior Rotarian as Fellowship Chairman  and a volunteer youth dressage trainer at Bossley Park Pony Club as well as a highly valued member of the West Pittwater Voluntary Fire Brigade.

See Spencer Read's Service Record.

He is the brother of Geoffrey Gordon READ whose military biography is here.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

Abbreviations or acronyms which have a dotted underline can be expanded by moving the cursor over the term - e.g. WIA. The cursor will be replaced by ? and the expanded abbreviation will be displayed. This is gradually being incorporated into the site, replacing the the current expansion of abbreviations. There may be a discernable delay of about a second before the expansion is first provided.

There is also a separate list of abbreviations which is available through the menu at the top of this page or the hyperlink here.  Abbreviations are inconsistent, even within a single occurence where a term is abbreviated.

There are a number of sources for tracing abbreviations used in Australian and New Zealand service records. Those used when operating with the British or US forces can generally be found, especially in World War 1. Abbreviations used solely within Australia in WW2 are most difficult to trace, particularly when they are regional. Sometimes a 'best guess' is the only answer.

Duplicated Pages

Some of the service information may appear to be duplicated although individual occurrences are not in the same order and different abbreviations used. This occurs when the unit and Army records are amalgamated upon discharge or death in Service.

Service Numbers

Service numbers in WW1 were unique to the unit (e.g. Battalion) or Corps (e.g. Artillery). In WW2 Service Numbers were unique to the State in which they were allotted. For further information about identity numbers for Service personnel, see Regimental and Service Numbers

Dates of Occurrence and Reporting

The date of reporting an incident may be hours, days or months after the date on which incident actually occurred.

The original service record is amended only when the incident is reported which means that events are not necessarily recorded in in strict chronological sequence. This is the date shown on the left of the page of the original record, and also on the left in my transcription but readers should note that at times there may be no date of reporting at all, particularly when service personel are repatriated for discharge at the end of hostilities.

To assist the reader, when transcribing the military record I have done my best to record events in their chronological sequence. This is date is on the right of the page of the original record and also on the right in my transcription.

For clarity I have transcribed all dates into the format d MMM yyyy.

X List

Members of a unit who are temporarily detached to attend courses, seek treatment of illness, injury or wounds or for some other reason are marked X in the roll book which means that no rations are drawn by the unit for that person.

When those members return to their parent unit they are removed from the X List and rations are again drawn for them.

Should they be permanently removed from their parent unit, their posting order authorises their removal from roll-book of that unit and their addition to the roll book of the gaining unit unless they are discharged.

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Enlistment Details

AUSTRALIAN MILITARY FORCES.

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ATTESTATION FORM.

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FOR SPECIAL FORCES RAISED FOR SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA OR ABROAD

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    Army Number......................NX90413...............

    Surname..........READ........................Christian Names.............ALBERT JOHN SPENCER.....................................................................

    Unit.......... 1 GEN INF TRG BN..................................................................................................................................................................

    Enlisted for service at..................NSW............................................................................................................................................(Place)

    ...................QLD......................................................(State)...................... 6 JUN 1940.....................................................................(Date)

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A

Questions to be put to persons called out or presenting themselves for voluntary enlistment*

1.  What is your name?	1.  Surname            READ      Other Names     ALBERT JOHN SPENCER
2.  Where were you born?	2.  In or near the town of  MELBOURNE   in the state or country of VICTORIA
3.  Are you a British Subject?	3.  NB
4.  What is your age and date of birth	4.  Age                 38-8/10 mths      Date of Birth    14 Jun 1903
5.  What is your your normal trade or occupation	5.  Commecial Traveller
6.     Are you married, single or widower?	Married 3 children     1/11 yrs
7.     Give details of previous military service	1/10 yrs                                            1/7 yrs
8.     If now serving, give particulars	8. Overwritten "NIL"
9.  Who is your actual next of kin? (Order of relationship.— wife, eldest son, eldest daughter, father, mother, eldest brother, eldest sister, eldest half-brother, eldest half-sister)	9.     Name     EDITH HELENA READ Address       7 Union St,MEADOW BANK   NSW                3 Granville Street, FAIRFIELD N.S.W. Relationship  Wife
10.    What is your permanent address?	10.    7 Union St, Meadow Bank,
11.     What is your religious denomination? (ANswer optional)	11.     C.E.
12.    Have you ever been convicted by a civil court?	12.    NO
13.    Have you any of the following Educational Qualifications?	1. Certificate for entry to Secondary School 2. Intermediate 3. Leaving 4. Leaving Honours     No response marked 5. Technical 6. University Degree 7. Other Diplomas

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I, ..................... ALBERT JOHN SPENCER READ................................................................do solemnly declare that the above answers made by me to the above questions are true.

Witnessed by .......................[Illegible]   Lieut................................................................Spencer Read......................................................

* The person will be warned that should he give false answers to any of these questions he will be liable to heavy penalties under the Defence Act.

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B

MEDICAL EXAMINATION

I certify the above-named person to be fit for Class .....................I...................Temporarily unfit / Unfit

........................F.G. ROBERTSON................ (Signature)

    

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C

OATH OF ENLISTMENT ‡

For persons voluntarily enlisted or called upon under Part III. or Part IV, of the Defence Act to serve in the Citizens Forces in time of war.   Not compulsory for serving members of the Forces or those allotted to the Citizen Forces under Part XII. of the Act, but unless in any case an objection is raised, the oath should be administered to them as part of the ceremony of attestation.

    I,.....................Albert John Spencer Read ...............swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord, the King, in the Military Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia until the cessation of the present time of war or until sooner lawfully discharged, dismissed, or removed, and that I will resist His Majesty's enemies and cause his Majesty's peace to be kept and maintained, and that I will in all matters appertaining to my service faithfully discharge my duty according to law.

SO HELP ME GOD!

Signature of Person Enlisted................. Spencer Read .........................       

Subscribed at ............................... Paddington .............................. in the State of ........................... NSW .............

this ............................ 6th ...................................... day of .......................................March.................................. 1942 .....................

        Before me—

    Signature of Attesting Officer ................................[Illegible] Lieut ....................................................................................................
† Persons who object to take an oath may make an affirmation in accordance with the Third Schedule of the Defence Act. In such cases the above form will be amended acccordingly and initialled by the Attesting Officer.

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Chronological Events
(Service and Casualty Form)

Date Reported	Received From	Event/Casualty Medical     Other     Disciplinary	Date of Occurence	Place of Occurence
9 Mar 1942	General Details Depot	Marched  in to - General Details Depot Marched out to - 8 Trg Bn	6 Mar 1942 23 Mar 1942	SYDNEY SYDNEY
7 Mar 1942	General Details Depot	Gtd. Spec. leave w/outpay from 8 Mar 1942 to 22 Mar Incl.	8 Mar 1942	SYDNEY
24 Mar 1942	8 I.T.B	Taken on Strength	6 Mar 1942	DUBBO
11 Apr 1942	8 I.T.B.	Transferred to 3 PNR COY	10 Apr 1942	DUBBO
11 Apr 1942	3 PNR COY	Taken on Strength ex 8 I.T.B.    [RUTHERFORD was an Army Camp near MAINTLAND NEW SOUTH WALES.]	11 Apr 1942	RUTHERFORD
30 Apr 1942	3 PNR COY	Det tp 5 Ord Ammo Coy	29 Apr 1942	RUTHERFORD
24 Jun 1942	3 PNR COY	Rej'd unit ex det to 5 Ord Ammo Coy	26 Jun 1942	RUTHERFORD
10 Sep 1942	D.R.O	Entrained for Q'land Line of Control Area	8 Sep 1942	RUTHERFORD
18 Sep 1942	30 Emp Coy	Embarked "TAROONA" for N.G. L of C Area	18 SEP 1942	TOWNSVILLE
21 Sep 1942	30 Emp Coy	Disembarked "TAROONA" from QLD L of C Area	21 Sep 1942	PORT MORESBY
7 Oct 19142	30 Emp Coy	Sick to M.D.S. BOMANA MISSION [PUO]	7 Oct 1942	PORT MORESBY
16 Oct 1942	30 EMP COY	Disc MDS BOMANA MISSION & returned to Unit	14 Oct 1942	PORT MORESBY
16 Oct 1942	30 EMP COY	Rej. Unit from MDS BOMANA MISSION	14 Oct 1942	PORT MORESBY
22 May 1943	30 EMP COY	Next of Kin (Change of address )	16t May 1943	PORT MORESBY
6 Jun 1943	30 EMP COY	Embarked "TAROONA"	6 Jun 1943	PORT MORESBY
10 Jun 1943	30 EMP COY	Disembarked	10 Jun 1943	TOWNSVILLE
10 Jun 1943	30 EMP COY	M/In to 13 Personnel Staging Camp not prom	10 Jun 1943	QLD
16 Dec 1943	30 EMP COY	Classified proficient entitled to proficiency pay	1 Jul 1943	QLD
27 Jan 1945	30 WORKS COY	Appointed Lance Corporal (paid)	20 Jan 1945	QLD
		EMBARKED BRISBANE per "FRED C AINSWORTH"	4 APR 1945	AUST
	30 WKS COY	DISEMBARKED MOROTAI	13 APR 1945	MOROTAI
22 Aug 1945	30 WKS COY	Tfd Out to 8 Aust POW Recept Camp	22 Aug 1945	MOROTAI
23 Aug 1945	8 PW REC CAMP	T'fd in from 30 WKS COY	23 Aug 1945	MOROTAI
29 Aug 1945	8 PW REC Camp	EMB MOROTAI for Service in MANILLA Lst 470 Rct	29 Aug 1945	MOROTAI
5 Sep 1945	8 PW REC Camp	Disembarked MANILLA	5 Sep 1945	MANILLA
18 Oct 1945	8 PW REC Camp	Tfd to H.Q. 3 P.W. Recept Group	1 Oct 1945	MANILLA
18 Oct 1945	3 PW REC GP	Tfd in from 8 PW Recept Camp	18 Oct 1945	MANILLA
9 Nov 1945	3 PW Rec Gp	EMBARKED MANILLA - WILLIAM E CHANNING	24 OCT 1945	MANILLA
11 Nov 1945	3 PW Rec Gp	DISEMBARKED SYDNEY	9 NOv 1945	NSW L of C Area
11 Nov 1945	3 PW Rec Gp	Trans out to NSW L of C Area for discharge	11 Nov 1945	NSW L of C Area
5 Dec 1945		AMF DISCHARGED ON ACCOUNT OF DEMOBILIZATION

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Employment and Works Companies - Royal Australian Engineers, World War 2

Definition from Virtual War Memorial Australia, vwma.org.au extracted 7 Nov 2025