Profile

Nelson 

Name: Webster N.C.
Service No: NX28959
Rank: Tpr.
Unit: 10

Brief History

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 D.O.A.S. Drowned in the Danmap flood. Aitape-Wewak campaign. 27/01/1945

(Details required)

A MYSTERY SOLVED (Cav News 40, 1987)

Last year we had a letter from Bob Pemberton , of Charlestown NSW, portion of which was the following ..... Please find a picture enclosed of a Six Div Cav man (see above photo under Profile).  This picture came into my possession from an old mate of mine, Alf Finney BE, who runs the new retirement village at Shoal Bay.  When people come to these places, they usually dispose of any surplus posessions, in fact, put them into the permanent selling shop, to get a few bob for the running of the home.   This photo came in and Alf said to me, "There is no info on this bloke, but by his colour patch, he is one of your mob".  So there you are.  Who is he?  I don't know.  You will see by the watermark on the photo that it was taken in Cairo. (end quote)

This year at our Annual General Meeting, the mystery was solved quickly by Harry McKay .  The man in the photo was Nelson Webster, tragically drowned in the Danmap River flood in 1945.  Harry was probably the last man to see Webster alive, as they both climbed into the same tree, which was subsequently swept away in the torrent.

In Memory of
Trooper NELSON CLAUDE WEBSTER

NX28959, A.I.F. 2/10, Australian Commando Squadron
who died age 32
on 27 January 1945
Son of Leonard Frederick Nelson Webster and Sarah Webster, of Orange, New South Wales.
Remembered with honour
LAE WAR CEMETERY

Commemorated in perpetuity by
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission