b. 05/09/1918 Subiaco, Perth, Australia. d. 17/11/1989 Esperance, Australia.
Leslie Thomislav “Tom” Starcevich (1918-1989) was born on 5th September 1918 at Subiaco, Western Australia, third of ten children of Croatian-born Joseph Starcevich, miner, and his English-born wife Gertrude May, née Waters. In the 1920s the family moved to Grass Patch, near Esperance, where Tom was educated at a local school. After working in a gold mine at Norseman he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 9th April 1941 and joined the 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion. Of dark complexion and 5 ft 7 ins (170 cm) tall, he embarked for the Middle East on 9th September. On 17th July 1942, during the battle for Ruin Ridge at El Alamein, Egypt, he was wounded in the thigh; he returned to Australia in February the following year. In August ‘Starcey’ was posted to New Guinea and served in the campaign against the Japanese, at Lae and Finschhafen (Finschaven). He was promoted to acting corporal in December, although later he relinquished the rank voluntarily. In January 1944 he returned to Australia.
Leslie T “Tom” Starcevich VC
From May to December 1945 the 2/43rd Battalion participated in the Australian invasion of Japanese-occupied Labuan and British North Borneo. On 27-28th June it attacked the town of Beaufort. Approaching a thickly wooded spur, Starcevich’s company encountered the enemy at a position where movement off the single track was difficult and hazardous. The leading platoon found the enemy well dug in and, as the Japanese in the first post opened fire, Starcevich moved through the forward scouts firing his Bren-gun from the hip and silencing the post. Fired upon immediately by a second light machine-gun emplacement, he coolly changed his magazine, advanced upon this post and, standing in full view of the gunners, destroyed it. Encountering a third post, he and a fellow soldier moved forward and kept the post quiet with a hail of fire. For this outstanding display of gallantry, he was awarded the Victoria Cross in November. After the war the people of Beaufort erected a memorial to Starcevich and named the jungle track ‘VC Road’.
Returning to Australia in January 1946, Starcevich was discharged from the AIF on 12th February. He took work as a car salesman in Perth. On 10th December 1947 at the district registrar’s office he married Kathleen Betty Warr, née Hardy, a divorcee. The couple lived at Subiaco until 1951, when they moved to a two-thousand acre (809-ha) war service property near Carnamah and farmed wheat and sheep. Divorced in 1969, Starcevich returned to Grass Patch in 1981 and took up a one-hundred acre (40.5-ha) farmlet, where he lived in a small shack. A modest and serious man with a liking for music, he was described as ‘a good mate, with a quiet smile and dry sense of humour’, who enjoyed sharing a few beers with old comrades.
Survived by his two sons and one daughter he died on 17th November 1989 at Esperance and was buried with full military honours in the local cemetery. His portrait by George Browning is held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. A bronze statue of him was unveiled at Grass Patch on 28th June 1995. The Tom Starcevich VC memorial park at Campbell, Canberra, was dedicated on 10th December 2005. His medals are held by the Army Museum of Western Australia.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: ARMY MUSEUM OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, PERTH.
BURIAL PLACE: ESPERANCE PUBLIC LAWN CEMETERY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. GRAVE 1366.
Acknowledgements:
Gordon Traill – Images of the Starcevich VC Medal Group and reverse of the VC Medal at the Army Museum, Western Australia.
Jason Daniels – Image of the Starcevich VC Board in ANZAC Park, Townsville, Queensland.
Gary Richardson – Image of the Starcevich VC Memorial Stone in King’s Park, Perth.