HARKISS, Archibald Thomas

HARKISS, Archibald Thomas – A Southern Downs Veteran

CONFLICT : WWII
SERVICE NO : QX36842
RANK : Private
UNIT : 19th Ordinance Ammunition Section
ENLISTMENT DATE : 5/06/1941
AGE : 29
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT : Warwick, Queensland
PLACE OF BIRTH : Dalby, Queensland
RELIGION : Presbyterian
OCCUPATION : Storeman
DATE OF DEATH : 3/09/1942
PLACE OF BURIAL : Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

MEMORIALS : Warwick State High School Roll of Honour 1939-1945, Warwick The Fallen 1939-1945, Warwick War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

View this person’s Service File : HARKISS, Archibald Thomas

NOTES : Archibald, or Arch as he was known, died of a deadly tropical disease which he contracted in Papua New Guinea.

His brother Alexander Walter Harkiss QX22531 was killed in action eight days before Arch died of encephalitis caused by scrub typhus.

Arch was the son of William Alexander and Margaret Harkiss of Locke Street, Warwick.

His education was received at Warwick Central State School and the Warwick State High School. Like his brother, he was a keen sportsman and excelled at cricket, tennis and hockey.

Both he and his brother Alex were members of the Diggers A grade cricket club of which their uncle, Walter Harkiss, was captain for a number of years.

It was a sad time for the Warwick State High School community, when the Gehrmann and Harkiss families were to lose two sons each in the Second World War.

Read about Southern Downs Military History here.