Eigil GUNDES
Year of Birth: 1899
Place of Birth: Copenhagen, Denmark
Date of Enlistment: 14 October 1942, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Australian Defence Force: Royal Australian Naval Reserve
Ship: HMAS Platypus
Rank: Seaman
Unit(s): Naval Auxiliary Patrol
Service Number: B/P78
Died: 10 April 1944
Age: 45 years
Buried: Cairns War Cemetery – Plot A – Row C – Grave 15
Eigil Gundes is the son of Thorvald and Gerda (Haslund) Gundestrup, born in Denmark on 11 February 1899.
Denmark Church Records, 1812-1918 records his Confirmation on the 11 October 1914.
His enlistment states he was 5 feet 6 inches tall with black hair, hazel eyes and dark complexion.
The Electoral Roll of 1943 for Cairns records Eigil living on the M.V. Taiva, at the Cairns Motor Boat Club with his occupation a timber worker.
Two different reasons were given for cause of death, NAA has died suddenly from natural causes, the Virtual War Memorial has killed in service.
Eigil Gundes’s name is on the Cairns Roll of Honour board and alsolocated at panel 6 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.
Online Resources
NAA: A6770, (GUNDES Eigil) National Archives of Australia
Department Veterans’ Affairs Nominal Roll
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
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