AUSTRALIAN COMMANDOS 2 Drakopoulos, George (Taffy)

John Robertson

Administrator
Staff member
  • SURNAME
Drakopoulos
  • FORENAME
George (Taffy)
  • UNIT
2 Commando Company
  • RANK
Warrant Officer Second Class
  • NUMBER
  • DATE OF DEATH
17th February 1960
  • AGE
34
  • GRAVESITE
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Springvale, Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia
  • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
from Geelong,Victoria
born 1926
son of Emmanuel George and Asimema (nee Scardodinos) Drakopoulos
husband of Rita Drakopoulos
drowned in training in Bass Strait,off Victoria
On the evening of February 17, 1960, 74 commandos from 2 Commando Company set off in army watercraft on a training exercise from Point Lonsdale to Point Nepean in Victoria , simulating a raid which involved them crossing the infamous Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay
The weather changed without warning and the watercraft were swept out to sea through the Port Phillip heads encountering massive seas and some capsized.
George "Taffy" Drakopoulos and Eddie Meyer drowned before they could be rescued.
Roger Wood, selflessly helped his fellow Commandos up a rope ladder on a larger rescue vessel to safety from a Zodiac inflatable, only then to be flung into the sea and lost somewhere beyond The Rip.
 
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