- Basil Catterns
Basil Catterns, MC (1917 - 30 March 2007) was an Australian businessman, soldier and amateur yachtsman. Born as Basil Wilfred Thomas Catterns in Balmain, Sydney, the son of an English merchant seaman, Wilfred Catterns, and Emily (nee Greenwell). An uncle, Basil G. Catterns, for whom he was named, later became the Chief Cashier of the
Bank of England .Biography
Early Years
Educated at Fort Street Boys' High School, Catterns joined the staff of the (now defunct) Sydney afternoon daily newspaper, "The Sun". On the outbreak of
World War II in 1939 he volunteered for military service and served with the Australian Imperial Force in the Middle East and North Africa including Tobruk. When the AIF was brought back to Australia in 1942, he met Nina McKnight and married her in 1943.In September 1942, Catterns, by now a captain, was sent to
New Guinea with his infantry unit where he saw action on the Kokoda Track winning aMilitary Cross and being mentioned in dispatches for acts of gallantry which his battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Cullen, was moved to declare "the bravest thing I'd ever seen a man do".Fact|date=March 2008 Catterns served in New Guinea for the rest of the war, eventually attaining the rank of major.After the war Catterns pursued a career in advertising. He produced a film of the Melbourne Olympic Games; sailed the
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on six occasions; founded "Offshore Yachting", the magazine of theCruising Yacht Club of Australia ; and was one of the longest-serving members of theSydney Maritime Museum Fact|date=March 2008.Catterns and his wife lived in suburban Sydney where they raised three children: David, a barrister/QC; Diana, an artist; and Angela, a well-known radio broadcaster and co-presenter of 'Film First' sunday movie premiers on The World Movies Channel.
Final Years
Basil Catterns died at age 89 of undisclosed causes.
Marriages
*Nina McKnight - 1943 - 2007
Offspring
*David Catterns
*Diana Catterns
*Angela Catterns References
External links
* [http://www.kokodawalkway.com.au/basil-catterns.html Oral History, Catterns describes action on the Kokoda Track]
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/honours/honours/person.asp?p=NX342 Australian War Memorial entry]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/a-romantic-hero-in-war-and-peace/2007/04/18/1176696913039.html Obituary Sydney Morning Herald]
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