5th Australian Field Butchering Company

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Brief History

Prior to the war the Western Command Meat Depot was on establishment. In March 1942 a section of the Northern Territory based 3rd Field Butchery was raised and was operating at the Meat markets in Perth where it was known as Section, 5th Field Butchery. In the November 1942 reorganisation, the section became known as 5th Field Butchery Company which expanded to include a Company HQ element and two platoons which operated in detachments located at the various supply depots in southern WA.

In the March 1944 the Company HQ was disbanded and the platoons now titled 12th Field Butchery Platoon and 13th Field Butchery Platoon. As a result of declining troop numbers in WA, the 12th Field Butchering Platoon left in September 1944 for Katherine in the Northern Territory where it joined the 3rd Field Butchery Company remaining there until the end of the war.

Unit Personnel

• John William Shackleton 16 Oct 1941 - 9 Mar 1944
• Walter Edward Easter 20 Jan - 26 Aug 1942

12th Australian Field Butchering Platoon

• John William Shackleton 10 Mar - 27 Aug 1944

13th Australian Field Butchering Platoon

• Cyril Newton 10 Mar - 27 Aug 1944
• John William Shackleton 28 Aug 1944 - 18 Mar 1945

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, pages 5.282 and 5.282 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018