Service: Army – 2/14 Battalion
Service number: VX132956
Locality on Enlistment: Colac
Duration of Service: 10 Dec 1942 – 6 Jul 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 3 May 1916 Colac
Parents: William James BALL and Beatrice Anne VAGG
Spouse: Nancy Edna TUXEM
School/s: Colac West State School, Colac High School
Occupation: Produce Merchant
Date and Place of Death: 6 Jul 1945 Balikpapan
Place of Burial: Labuan War Cemetery Malaysia
NOTES: After joining the army in 1942 James reached the rank of Sergeant. The 2/14th’s last operation of the war was the Balikpapan landings. It left Australia on 2 June 1945, landed at Balikpapan on 1 July and fought its major action of the campaign around Manggaar Airfield between 4 and 10 July. Australian War Memorial. In 1946 the Colac Apex Club announced an annual prize for Colac High School students called the “James Ball Memorial Prize” in memory of James.