Eric Plant
Australian Army Officer
Died when: 60 years 24 days (720 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Major General Eric Clive Pegus Plant, CB, DSO & Bar, OBE (23 April 1890 – 17 May 1950) was an officer in the Australian Army who served during the First and Second World Wars.
Plant served in the pre-war part-time military from 1908, before joining the permanent forces in 1912.During the First World War, he volunteered for the First Australian Imperial Force and served at Gallipoli in 1915 as the adjutant of an infantry battalion.
Later, he served as a staff officer at both brigade and divisional levels on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Plant remained in the military during the interwar years and undertook various staff and training positions.He 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, Plant assumed command of the 24th Brigade and deployed to the Middle East with the Second Australian Imperial Force.
Temporarily promoted to major general, he assumed command of the 2nd AIF's rear echelon in the Middle East in mid-1941 before taking command of the 25th Brigade, which he led through the fighting against the Vichy French in Syria and Lebanon.
Following Japan's entry into the war in December 1941, Plant was recalled to Australia to assist with defensive preparations.He 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, Plant assumed responsibility for support troops in Victoria and Western Australia.
He retired from the military in 1946, and died from cancer in 1950 at the age of 60.
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