Archibald Erroll Leith-Hay Gibson, the youngest child of Florence Leith Hay, was born in Mackay, Queensland on 26 September 1902. He was the second of two surviving Australian nephews of Charles Arthur O’Neill Leith-Hay’s father, C. E. N. Leith-Hay.
His mother Florence had spent six years of her early adulthood in Britain and at Leith Hall before returning to Australia.
Archibald enlisted in Queensland on 21 January 1941 with service number QX17934. A Staff Sergeant in the 2/26th Battalion Infantry, Australian Imperial Force, he was taken prisoner of war at Singapore.
He was held with F Force in the Sonkurai work area in Thailand and died from malaria at Thanbyuzayat Hospital camp on 26 October 1943, aged 41, while a prisoner on the Thai–Burma Railway.
Archibald Erroll Leith-Hay Gibson is buried at Thanbyuzayat Cemetery, Burma Myanmar. This is now slightly more accessible than in the past.
His service record can be found at National Archives Australia.
His War Memorial can be viewed at Canberra: Australian War Memorial record.
The 2/26th Battalion Memorial and details are also available.
The marker in Myanmar is shown here and sourced from Find Grave.
They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them!
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