Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

04/07/1940

Date of Discharge

24/08/1945

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

18/08/1919

Place of Birth

Delegate NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Griffith ACT

School(s) Attended

Telopea Park School, Canberra High School

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Leslie Brill (father), Westlake (Yarralumla) ACT

Service Number

NX56242

Final Rank

Gunner

Final Unit

3 Anti Tank Regiment

Brill was born in 1919 and grew up at Westlake (now part of Yarralumla). After school he worked as an apprentice at the Government Printing Office. He played rugby for Eastern Suburbs and was a noted cyclist. After enlisting in July 1940 he served as a Gunner with the 3 Anti Tank Regiment in the Middle East. At Tobruk he was captured while on a foraging mission and became a prisoner of war. Brill was sent first to a POW camp at Sulmona in Italy and then to Stalag 8A at Gorlitz in Germany.

After the war Brill returned to Canberra and lived in Narrabundah. He also served as the President of the Ex-POW Association. Brill died on 23 December 1983 and is buried in the ex-services portion of Gungahlin Cemetery.  The photograph in the Australian War Memorial collection shows Brill at Stalag VIIIA POW camp. It shows a group portrait of an Allied soccer team at the POW camp.

The Yarralumlan : Magazine of the Canberra High School, 1945 (p.12)
WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
AWM Collections Records : P02287.004, 3DRL/5071
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
Canberra Public Cemeteries http://www.canberracemeteries.com.au/cem_gravesearch.asp
The Canberra Times - 23 October 1940, 27 January 1941, 6 May 1941, 13 September 1941, 8 December 1941, 28 June 1943, 9 August 1944, 24 April 1945, 20 June 1945, 31 December 1945, 18 February 1954