Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

Vietnam (1962-1975)

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

14/02/1932

Place of Birth

Tamworth NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Simpson Street, Watson ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Husband of Mrs Gabrielle J. Bourne, Simpson Street, Watson ACT

Burial Place

Woden Cemetery, Canberra ACT: RSL Section, grave New 10X.

Service Number

23916

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

C Company, 5 Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment [5RAR], Australian Army

Died (killed in action) by an M26 grenade booby trap at Xa An Nhut, Phuoc Tuy Province, on 14 February 1967 aged 35 years.

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 4

Major Bourne was the officer commanding C Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, at the time of his death. He had enlisted in August 1950. It was his first operation as a company commander with 5RAR. During the 1950s, he had served on two tours of duty in Korea with, respectively, 3RAR and 1RAR. He served in Vietnam from 22 October 1966 till 7 February 1967 with 1 Australian Reinforcement Unit before joining 5RAR. Bourne was killed on the morning of 14 February 1967, his 35th birthday, by an M26 grenade booby trap at Xa An Nhut, Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam during preparations for Operation Beaumaris, (a cordon-and-search operation of the village of An Nhut).

AWM Roll of Honour Database
Nominal Roll of Australian Veterans of the Korean War
Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans http://www.vietnamroll.gov.au
'500: The Australians who died in Vietnam', Australian Special Edition, 3-4 Oct 1992, p. 4
Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins, On the Offensive: The Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967-1968, Crows Nest, Allen and Unwin / AWM, 2003, (p.87)
Don Mountain (ed.), Monumental Inscriptions: Australian Capital Territory including Jervis Bay, Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (p.73)
AWM Collections Record : P04431.001, F03849
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
Fifth Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment web site - www.5rar.asn.au