CHAMP, Jack Wilton Knox (1913-1998)
Modified on Sun, 13 Mar 2016 11:43 by Con — Categorized as: Biography - All, Biography - Students, Geelong College
CHAMP, Jack Wilton Knox (1913-1998)
Author and soldier, Jack Champ, the son of Charles Alexander Champ and Margaret Alison nee Wilton first started at the College in 1921 as a day student. According to the enrolment register he had previously been a student at the Presbyterian Girls’ College, presumably at the kindergarten. He left at the end of his Form V year in 1929.
He was an officer in the 2/6 Infantry Battalion, AIF which was in action in the Western Desert of North Africa and in Greece during World War II. Following the disastrous Crete campaign he was among those Australians taken prisoner and eventually became an unwilling resident of the infamous Colditz Castle in Germany. In association with Sydney writer, Colin Burgess, Jack published his account of his captivity at Colditz in the book
The Diggers of Colditz
in 1985.
Sources: Ad Astra December 1985.