Watch List notes:

Group of Four to Died as POW: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45. VX613 W.J.R. Sinclair. All medals impressed. Heavy contact marks, otherwise very fine - good very fine.

Walter Joseph Robert Sinclair, labourer, age 23, born at Port Melbourne, Vic; Enl.23Oct1939 at No.7 Drill Hall, Vic; to 2/2 Fd Regt 11Nov1939; Group II Signaller 08Mar1940; Emb.14Apr1940; Disemb.18May1940 at Kantria; to Greece 31Mar1941; MIA and later believed to be POW 30May1941; now reported as POW interned at Stalag VIIA, no date; officially reported POW 28Oct1941; Interned Stalag VIIIB Apr1943 and still reported to be there 15Jan1944; now reported missing 25Jan1945 presumed dead (unaccounted for since cessation of hostilities); commemorated at Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Ballarat, Vic, and Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Canberra, ACT.

Stalag XVIIB (244) was located at Gneixendorf, Austria. It was opened in October 1939 and closed in March 1945. Gneixendorf is a village near Krems in Lower Austria and the stalag there was the setting for the 1953 film, Stalag 17, starring William Holden.

With copy of Service File, a b&w photo and other research.