Service: Army – 2/4 Field Regiment
Service number: VX18320
Locality on Enlistment: Cororooke
Duration of Service: 28 May 1940 – 5 Nov 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 17 Oct 1911 Geelong
Parents: Christina Florence McDONALD
Spouse: Dorothy SMITH
School/s:
Occupation: Railway employee
Date and Place of Death: 19 April 1970 Ballarat
Place of Burial: Ballarat New Cemetery
NOTES: Norman was part of the 2/4 Field Regiment which was deployed to North Africa in late 1940. After being deployed in the defence of Mersa Matruh in Egypt in early 1941, the regiment took part in the fighting against the Vichy French in Syria and Lebanon, before undertaking garrison duties there. It returned to Australia in early 1942 following Japan’s entry into the war. Later the regiment took part in the 7th Division’s advance through the Finisterre Range before returning to Australia in early 1944. Its final involvement in the war came around Balikpapan in 1945. Wikipedia.
At war’s end, Norman married Dorothy and they raised four children, one of whom is Norman Maxwell Houghton, an historian and archivist in Geelong who has published over 30 books. Norman Snr was a railway employee and his son Norman’s interest in railway and forest history of the Otway Ranges was nurtured from an early age.