Fred McCall Bott (1920 - 2014)

Born 4 Dec 1920 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Ancestors

Died 20 Apr 2014 at age 93 in New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Frederick McCall 'Fred' Bott was born on 4th December 1920 at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He was a son of Stanley Bott and Barbara Moodie.

Fred is a Boys' Brigade King’s Man or Queen’s Man

In 1932, John joined The Boys' Brigade in Ithaca Presbyterian Church. The fruit of his hard work and commitment was received in the form of The King's Badge (now known as The Queen's Badge), the highest award The Boys' Brigade has to offer young men. This he achieved in 1937 with one other Boy from 1st Brisbane Company.^[1]

Fred Bott is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Second Australian Imperial Force 1939-1946
2/11th Australian Field Regiment

On 19th January 1939 at Bardon, Queensland, Fred was commissioned into the Second Australian Imperial Force for service overseas during the Second World War.^[2] He was an officer in the 2/11th Australian Field Regiment, 6th Division (21st, 22nd and 61st Batteries). After seeing action in Syria and garrison duties in Lebanon, the regiment returned to Australia and was deployed to the Northern Territory. From there, the 2/11th moved by troopship to Lae, New Guinea, and was trucked to Nadzab, in the Markham Valley. In April and May 1945 the regiment moved to Torokina, on Bougainville. Fred was discharged on 27th May 1946.

After the war, Fred returned to Brisbane and established a retail business. When in Sydney in December 1953 promoting a branch there he was quoted by columnist George Blaikie as saying of Sydney, "... 'Queensland is so moral that even single mud crabs don't have nippers.' Can this be true? Fred also says he'd 'trade our Harbour Bridge for a large plate of tiger prawns and toss in 10/- ($1) as well.' One more crack like that from Fred and he gets hit with a full bag of Sydney rock oysters."^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ The 1st Brisbane Association Honour Roll, Enoggera Terrace, Paddington, Queensland; sighted by Ken Evans 26 Mar 2018
2. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: QX33974 (Q9465) Captain Fred McCall Bott; accessed 24 Sep 2019
3. ↑ The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld: 1933 - 1954) Tue 8 Dec 1953 Page 1 DAY by DAY; accessed 24 Sep 2019

• Queensland birth Index #1921/B/64336
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/248546422/fred-mccall-bott: accessed 12 January 2024), memorial page for CAPTAIN Fred McCall Bott (4 Dec 1920–20 Apr 2014), Find a Grave Memorial ID 248546422, citing The New South Wales Garden of Remembrance, Rookwood, Cumberland Council, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by Shane (contributor 49832326).