17 Facts About Eric Plant

Eric Plant remained in the military during the interwar years and undertook various staff and training positions.

Eric Plant completed the staff course at Camberley, and by the start of the Second World War had assumed the role of commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, a position that he held as a brigadier.

In July 1940, Eric Plant assumed command of the 24th Brigade and deployed to the Middle East with the Second Australian Imperial Force.

Eric Plant was placed in command of the 5th Military District, and later Western Command, assuming control of all Australian forces defending Western Australia.

Between 1942 and the end of the war in August 1945, Eric Plant assumed responsibility for support troops in Victoria and Western Australia.

Eric Plant retired from the military in 1946, and died from cancer in 1950 at the age of 60.

Eric Clive Pegus Plant was born in Charters Towers, Queensland, on 23 April 1890 to English immigrants.

In 1912, Eric Plant joined the Australian Army, and was attached to the Administrative and Instructional Staff in Victoria as a lieutenant.

Eric Plant was assigned as aide-de-camp to Major General William Bridges, the commander of the AIF, and shipped out to Egypt in October 1914.

Eric Plant worked closely with the brigade commander, Brigadier General John Gellibrand, during the brigade's various actions during 1916 and early 1917, including the Battle of Pozieres.

Eric Plant was awarded a Bar to his DSO in 1917 for his leadership during the Second Battle of Bullecourt, in which he rallied straggling infantry under heavy artillery fire.

Eric Plant was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his service with the 4th Division.

Eric Plant, having been made a temporary lieutenant colonel, eventually returned to Australia in July 1920, along with his wife Oona Hunter Brown, whom he had married in London in early 1918.

Eric Plant was a temporary brigadier and the commandant of the Royal Military College at Duntroon when the war broke out in September 1939.

Eric Plant earned his sixth mention in despatches for his period in command of the brigade.

Eric Plant was returned to his temporary rank of major general and appointed commander of the 5th Military District, referred to as Western Command.

Eric Plant retired from the army in August 1946, with his rank of major general having been substantive.