Stanton Ross Monkcom Oral History

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DescriptionThis interview consists of three audio recordings and transcripts. Stanton (Stan) Ross Monkcom was interviewed on 8 November 2003 at the Whitlam Library, Cabramatta by Shirley Kingsford McLeod.

The interview was for the "War Veterans oral history project" in partnership with Fairfield RSLInterview SummaryStanton Ross Monkcom was born in Fairfield on 20 June 1920 and has lived here his whole life. His parents were Ethel Ross and Henry James Monkcom. Stan was educated at Fairfield Public school and Granville Technical High School.

A few years after leaving school Stan decided to join the services and applied to commence training. After completing three months service at Greta, he was called up and trained in the Machine Gun Corps. He then joined the army officially after having, as many young men did at that time, put his age up so that he would be old enough. Parental permission was needed before age 21 and he was not too sure if his parents would be forthcoming.

He went from training at Canterbury to Goulburn where it was so cold that he found frost on the ground. The training there consisted mainly of driving large trucks.

After about four months of more training he sailed for the Middle East. The ship he sailed on was the Queen Elizabeth and with her, as company, was the Queen Mary. After much rough sailing they landed in Suez before going to Deersineid in Palestine. He had married in 1941 and on arriving at Deersineid he was fortunate to meet up with his wife’s brother. They were camped only 10 miles from Beirut and 15 from Damascus. In the Lebanese Mountains he encountered cold weather again when four feet of snow fell in December.

In Palestine he was mainly engaged in infantry training. After about three months they were moved to Syria where he became even more proficient in driving heavy vehicles. They drove daily to Beirut to pick up provisions. The meat was delivered frozen and most of the other food was in tins. In Syria they were fortunate to have fresh vegetables. They saw no combat there but he did become ill at one stage and had to be sent up the hills to recuperate.

He was then sent to Ceylon and it was envisaged that they would be sent to Singapore after. That did not eventuate fortunately as it was only a short time later that the Japanese invaded Singapore and many people lost their lives.

So home it was to Australia. First they went to Fremantle and then to Melbourne and finally to Toowoomba in Queensland. Then it was off to the islands landing at Lae in New Guinea and Stan here contracted malaria which followed him home when he left the army.

On arrival back in Sydney he was discharges from the army and applied and got a job with a company called Package Propriety Limited at Strathfield where he remained for 28 years at various locations.

Stan was fortunate in that he suffered no serious illnesses or wounds as a result of the war.

Stan’s story includes many anecdotes of his war years and also fond memories of Fairfield of earlier days. In his retirement he and his wife have travelled extensively. He became involved with Fairfield RSL in 1954 and has been a keen bowler with their outdoor bowling club.

Transcript

Interview Transcript - Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 3

Interview Transcript - Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 2

Interview Transcript - Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 1

Audio

Interview with Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 3

Interview with Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 2

Interview with Stanton Ross Monkcom - Part 1

Details

IntervieweeStanton Ross MonkcomInterviewerShirley Kingsford McLeodDate of interview08/11/2003DurationTotal interview 01:17:26Transcripts availableYesRightsFairfield City CouncilAccess ConditionsAccess open for research, written permission required for personal copies and public use

Connections

Oral History ProjectThe Way We Were - People of FairfieldLocal War VeteransAll Oral HistoriesCollectionMilitary Collection