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Captain Ray Allsopp SG MB BS was an Australian medical doctor who served as an AIF military surgeon with a commando squadron for four years during the Second World War. Without regard for his own safety, he gallantly worked on wounded soldiers whilst under attack. He was killed in action at Balikpapan just weeks before Victory in the Pacific.
Raymond 'Ray' Jesse Allsopp was born on 25th June 1915 in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia. He was the younger son of Francis Allsop, an orchardist, and Irish-born Ellen Connolly, [1] and a great grandson of Francis Alsop, a Battle of Waterloo veteran who was transported to New South Wales the following year having been convicted of jumping ship on the voyage home from the battle.
Ray was educated at Marist Brothers High School, Parramatta and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. After graduating from the University of Sydney with the dual degrees of Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS), he was registered as a medical doctor.
On 31st August 1941 Ray was commissioned as a medical officer (Captain) in the Second Australian Imperial Force, his nation's overseas expeditionary force for the Second World War; in the Australian Army Medical Corps. [2] He was posted to Wollongong, New South Wales, with the (now Royal) Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC).
On 4th March 1942 in St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, Ray married fellow medical practitioner Doctor Edna Blackwell, daughter of John Cornelius Blackwell, an engineer of Kingsgrove, New South Wales, and his wife, Lilian Anderson / Rogers. [3] Edna had been diagnosed two months earlier with acute myelocytic leukaemia, a chronic blood and bone marrow disease. They made their home in Olwin, Kingsgrove Road, Kingsgrove, in Sydney's south; which was possibly the Blackwell family residence.
With no time for a honeymoon, Raymond served as the medical doctor with the 2/5th Independent Company (later known as the 2/5th Cavalry (Commando) Squadron and 2/5th Commando Squadron, 2nd/7th Australian Commando Regiment), his unit arriving in Port Moresby on 17th April 1942, on the SS Taroona, during an air raid. He saw action with the 2/5th Commandos at Wau (24th May), Salamaua (29th June), Huon Gulf, Mubu (1st October), Wau (January 1943) and Markham Valley (March-April). The unit departed Papua for Australia on the troopship Duntroon on 13th May 1943.
Sadly, Edna passed away on 26th April at home in Kingsgrove. Here, a conflict arises in documentation: Raymond is listed as the informant in Edna's death [4] yet Army records indicate he did not arrive home from New Guinea until a fortnight later. Did Raymond arrive home early on 'compassionate leave' due to Edna's health?Throughout the remainder of 1943 all of 1944 and the early stages of 1945, the 2/5th trained with the rest of the 7th Division, conducting a number of complex brigade and divisional level exercises, but it did not go into action again until June 1945 when, as part of the newly-formed 2/7th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment, it landed on Green Beach, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), as part of the 7th Division's Operation Oboe II, and were almost immediately again in the thick of combat, moving up the 'Vasey Highway' into the nearby hills, occupying first Lady Shofield's and then Jade and Jelly Hills. Having turned thirty years of age six days prior, Ray was killed in action on 1st July 1945 at Balikpapan. Raymond Jesse Allsopp's name is located at panel 86 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and in the Labuan War Cemetery, Labuan, Malaysia. [5] He is also commemorated on the Australian Commando Memorial, Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory, South Gippsland, Victoria. [6]
Following the war, his parents (at present, assumedly) received Ray's campaign and service medals: 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.
Ray was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches (equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry) for 'exceptional service in the field in the South West Pacific Area'; gazetted both in London and Canberra on 6th March 1947. [7][8] A Mention in Despatches is identified by an Oak Leaf Clasp, worn on the Australia Service Medal.
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Star of Gallantry |
On 17th July 2017, 72 years and a fortnight after his death, a review by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal upgraded Ray's Mention in Despatches to the Star of Gallantry (SG) for 'acts of gallantry in action as a member of 2nd/5th Australian Cavalry Commando Squadron, 2nd/7th Australian Cavalry Commando Regiment during Operation Oboe Two to the North East of Balikpapan on 1 Jul 1945'. [9][10][11][12] The Star of Gallantry is the second-highest award for gallantry under the Australian Honours System, surpassed only by the Victoria Cross for Australia.
The Cumberland Argus and Fruit Growers Advocate published the following article, entitled 'Tended Wounded For Hour Under Fire: How Captain Allsopp Met His Death', on 29th August 1945: [13]
Acadian heritage connections: Ray is 27 degrees from Beyoncé Knowles, 23 degrees from Jean Béliveau, 23 degrees from Madonna Ciccone, 24 degrees from Rhéal Cormier, 23 degrees from Joseph Drouin, 24 degrees from Jack Kerouac, 24 degrees from Anne Murray, 25 degrees from Matt LeBlanc, 21 degrees from Roméo LeBlanc, 23 degrees from Azilda Marchand, 21 degrees from Mary Travers and 22 degrees from Clarence White on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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Categories: Baulkham Hills, New South Wales | University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales | Australia, Doctors | Military Doctors | 2nd 5th Commando Squadron, Australian Army, World War II | St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, New South Wales | Star of Gallantry | Mentioned in Despatches | 1939-1945 Star | Pacific Star | Defence Medal | War Medal 1939-1945 | Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 | Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Labuan War Cemetery, Labuan, Malaysia | Australian Commando Memorial, Tidal River, Victoria | Australia, Notables in the Military | Notables | Killed in Action, Australia, World War II