Vital Statistics
Leslie Andrew Pinson: 1915 – 1960 GRO1969 (Labourer, Rockdale, New South Wales, Australia)
Sylvia Pearl Hurst: 1923 – xxxx
Married: 1946: Rockdale, New South Wales
Children by Sylvia Pearl Hurst:
Daughter (GRO0537)
Daughter (GRO0916)
Daughter (GRO1998)
Son (GRO1999)
Family Branch: Bristol
PinsentID: GRO1969
Leslie Andrew Pinson was the middle son of James Pinson by his wife Minnie (née Calder). He was born in Annandale in New South Wales, where his father was a “tram conductor”. He had two brothers (James George and Oliver David Pinson). He also had three sisters. His father later to became a “box maker”.
Leslie Andrew and his brother James George had both come of age and the Electoral Rolls show that they were living with their parents on “Augusta Road”, in Mortlake, in the Concord district of New South Wales in 1936. Leslie was a “duco sprayer” – presumably someone who sprayed surfaces with a thick coating of “duco” – a type of paint or “lacquer” and James George was a “cellar man”. Leslie was a still living with his parents the following year and (at least nominally) also in 1941; however, he had volunteered for service in the “A.I.F.” (“Australian Imperial Force”).
Private Leslie Andrew Pinson (NX3969) enlisted at Homebush in Sydney in October 1939 and was assigned to “Australian 2/4 Battalion”. According to his “Attestation” and other “Military Service” documents which are housed in the “Australian National Archive” and now available on-line, he was 6 ft. tall, had blue eyes, a dark complexion and brown hair. He belonged to the Church of England. Leslie Andrew was shipped to Kantara (in Egypt) where the Australian’s then were regrouping and he was then trans-shipped to Haifa (Israel) for training ahead of expected service in North Africa or Western Europe. He arrived in Israel in August 1940.
Leslie Andrew’s unit was attached to the “Australian 6th Division” which was hurriedly shipped to Greece after the Germans invaded the Country in April 1941. The Australians were sent north to the Yugoslavian border where they quickly outflanked and forced to retreat. The campaign lasted only a matter of weeks. Leslie was one of over 2,000 Australians taken prisoner. He was reported missing on 13th April 1941.
According to the “Australian Red Cross”, and also a list broadcast by the “Vatican Radio” he was taken to Germany (Truth: Sunday 27th July 1941) where he spent the next several years in “P.O.W. Camps”. The Electoral Rolls must surely have been mistaken when they showed him back living with his parents and spraying “duco” in 1943! Leslie and his compatriots were liberated in May 1945 and taken to a transit camp in England prior to repatriation to Australia. He embarked for Sydney in September 1945.
Private Leslie Andrew Pinson had been promoted to Acting Corporal a few days before he was captured and the relevant paper work had, predictably, gone missing in the retreat. Leslie Andrew felt he was short a considerable amount of back pay and wrote to the powers-that-be to rectify the oversight:
“I am an ex POW returned to Australia 29th September 1945 on the “Otranto” and am at present on Strength of 1 Coy.3 Pl.GDD. I hereby make application for my rank as A/Cpl. Whilst in Greece Lt. Irwin, our Pl. Comd. in charge of 17 Pl. appointed me Sec. A/Cpl. But since returning to England I find no confirmation of it in my pay book. Lt. Irwin was killed in action so I have asked Capt. Sargent, who also was a member of the 4th Bn, who now at present is in Eastbourne England to make a statement for me which you will find attached.”
Fortunately, Captain Sargent remembered him and said that he had seen him serving as a Corporal in charge of a section a few days before his capture. The issue was referred to a Brigadier Dougherty who said that he had in-deed signed off on a number of promotions on the 4th April 1941, and that Leslie’s may well have been one of them. He said:
“I cannot remember the circumstances of this case: When Commanding 2/4 Inf. Bn. No soldier was allowed to put up badges of a higher rank until his promotion to that rank had been approved by me. Therefore, if Pinson was commanding a section in Greece under the circumstances as stated by Capt. Sargent (and I have no doubt but that Capt. Sargent’s statement is true), then I think it is almost certain that I approved of the promotion to Acting Corporal). The promotions were approved by me and were later confirmed in Battalion Part II Orders.
From the time of the unit’s arrival in Greece on 3rd April until its evacuation on 26th April, it was almost continuously moving or fighting. Owing to the circumstances I do not think that the promotions I approved would have all been confirmed in official documents. In any case many official documents were destroyed to prevent the possibility of their falling into enemy hands. The company Commander and two platoon Commanders were killed in the first battle in Greece – the one in which I think, Pinson was captured – and that would make the possibility of an injustice being done. I recommend that Pinson be promoted to the rank of Corporal as from 4th April 41. That was the day on which I made necessary changes of personnel in the unit, in preparation for the days that were to come. Dougherty: Brig. Adm. Comd. 7 Div.”
It took time for the Army to process the above but the promotion, back-dated to 4th April 1941, was finally promulgated on 5th February 1946. Presumably he got his back pay!
When he returned to Sydney after the war Leslie became a “packer”. He married Sylvia Pearl Hurst, a “process worker” in Rockdale, in Sydney in June 1946. They appear to have had one son and three daughters. By 1949, Leslie Andrew was a “labourer” living with Sylvia on “Bryant Street” in Rockdale. The couple lived there throughout the 1950s and Leslie died there in 1960. He was interred in the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, where his military service is acknowledged on a plaque.
Sylvia and her children had moved to Arncliffe in New South Wales by 1972 (Electoral Rolls). However, she could be found on “Apsley Street” in Penshurt in Hurstville by herself in 1977. Presumably her children had married and left home. I do not know when she died.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Archibald Frederick Pinson: 1869 – 1951
Grandmother: Rosanna Pettit: xxxx – xxxx
Parents
Father: James William Pinson: 1889 – 1950
Mother: Minnie Calder: xxxx – xxxx
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Elizabeth Jane Pinson: 1887 – xxxx
James William Pinson: 1889 – xxxx
Richard Thomas Pinson: 1889 – 1945
Archibald Frederick Pinson: 1891 – 1973
William James Pinson: 1893 – xxxx
Stanley Roy Pinson: 1896 – 1898
Rose A. Pinson: 1903 – xxxx
Doris Violet Marjory Pinson: 1905 – xxxx
Mary Agnes Pinson: 1907 – xxxx
Thomas Henry Pinson: 1909 – 1978
Male Siblings (Brothers)
James George Pinson: 1913 – 1990
Leslie Andrew Pinson: 1915 – 1960
Oliver David Pinson: 1923 – 2005
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