Made in the same style as all the aisle windows, the memorial included the AIF Badge and the Pelican Feeding Her Young in an act of self-denial as well as the colour patch of Leiutenant Learmonth's regiment among the ears of wheat at the base of the panel. On Sunday 1 April 1951, a pair of windows in honour of Lieutenant Noel Learmonth and his brother, Wing Commander Charles Learmonth, were unveiled by the Headmaster, JR Darling, at St. James' Anglican Church, Tyrendarra, near Portland. (See separate entry)
Lieutenant John Noel Learmonth joined the 2nd Field Brigade, CMF and received his commission shortly before the war. After distinguished service in Greece with 2/3 Field Regiment RAA, the battalion was evacuated to Crete and among the last force to surrender on 30 May 1941, while defending Crete against the German invasion. For his actions in Greece and Crete Lieutenant Learmonth was mentioned in despatches. Initially posted 'missing' in early June 1941, Learmonth was taken prisoner and died on 10 May 1944 while a POW in Oflag IX A/Z at Rotenburg in Germany, aged 28 years, and is buried in the Hanover War Cemetery, Germany.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B883, VX114; AWM photograph P0266.096; NAA: B883, VX114; James Affleck, Geelong Grammarians at World War Two, The Old Geelong Grammarians Incorporated, Corio, 2002, pp.46-49; The Corian, August 1944.
