Lance Bombardier Ronald Leslie Bethune
- Rank
- Lance Bombardier
- Appointment
- Australian Army 1944 Middle East
- Service number
- WX97
- Unit
- 2/3 Field Regiment Australian Artillery
- Cause of death
- Died as Prisoner of War
- Place of death
- Poland
- Date of death
- 11 January 1944
- Age
- 25
- Plaque number
- L110
- Dedicated by
- His family on 5 December 1948
- More information
Lance Bombardier Ronald Leslie Bethune WX97 (1918-1944, born Grimsby, England) enlisted in the Australian Military Forces at Subiaco, Western Australia, on 7 November 1939 and was trained at Northam, Western Australia. He was immediately taken on 2/3rd Field Regiment, Australian Artillery, strength and sent to Scotland with the Regiment in May 1940. The Regiment was sent from Scotland to the Middle East in November 1940 and to Greece in March 1941. He was reported missing in June 1941 with a German record showing him taken Prisoner of War on Crete on 30 May 1941. On 11 January 1944, he died from illness as a Prisoner of War in Poland.
Lance Bombardier Bethune’s official memorial is his grave in the Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery, Krakow, Poland, where his headstone is inscribed with “His duty nobly done ever remembered”. His Roll of Honour is Perth, Western Australia.
His honour plaque in Kings Park was dedicated by his family on 5 December 1948. He is the son of Ronald Leslie Bethune (1889-1925) and Ellen Elizabeth Bethune (nee Shute) (1889-1963) and husband of Enid Margaret Bethune (nee Barton) (1918-1998) of Mount Lawley, Western Australia. The Plaque Applicant is his mother.
Lance Bombardier Bethune is remembered with honour.
Note: The place of death shown on the plaque is incorrect and should read “Poland”.