CLOSE, Roy Solomon VETERAN

Name – CLOSE, Roy Solomon VETERAN
Born – 22/11/1915
Died – 30/03/1944
Location – No 52 Methodist Section
Mother – Eleanor Clark Pearson
Father – Alfred Soloman Close

Notes – Roy was born in 1915 and was the son of Eleanor and Alfred Close of Victoria. His brother Arthur died in 1926 and his father died in 1928.

In the electoral rolls of 1937 he was at Beech Forest, Victoria with Elenor Clark, Janet, Robert Hughston farmer and Roy is listed as a labourer. By 1943 Roy was living at Tara with Elenor, Elenor Jean, George Alfred and Thelma Doris Clarke. Both George and Roy were listed as farmers.

With the event of WWII, Roy enlisted on 9th July, 1940 at Toowoomba and was a member of the 2/25 Infantry Battalion. While on home leave in 1944, Roy met with a tragic end while helping to break in a horse for his brother. The horse was wild and it reared up and its hoofs hit the rails. A rail hit Roy on the head sending him to the ground. His brother rushed him into the Tara Hospital but he died later the same day.

How sad for all concerned. Off fighting for his country, dodging bullets, only to return home on leave and be killed in a freak accident by a piece of wood.

A white marble War Graves Commission headstone adorns his grave and it is one of the few in the Tara Cemetery.

Newspaper Article – Click Here

War Service File  – CLOSE, Roy Solomon

Learn more about the Tara Cemetery here.