Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In this article we are providing links to the soldiers involved in the King Island World War 2 War Service Fund and the letters that they sent as part of this program.

During World War 2, servicepeople, received a Comfort Package or a Money Order from the King Island (Tasmania) War Service Fund, and then corresponded with the Fund.

In August 1940, the Island Fund was formally approved to operate independently from the State of Tasmania. It was run by a group of volunteers, led by Mr John (Jack) Marshall. John was an ex WW1 soldier, also the President of the local Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen Imperial League of Australia (RSSAILA), founded on King Island in 1919. This is now known as the Returned and Services League (RSL) and the King Island RSL Sub branch is still in operation.

The fund distributed packages to locals who had enlisted and other people who had no connection with King Island. As a mark of respect 139 service personnel wrote letters of thanks, totaling approximately 530 letters – they form the basis of the collection.

The challenges for a service person during World War 2 to write a letter was to firstly find the inclination (often directly related to their mental condition due to combat), time, paper, a writing implement and a place under cover. Occasionally a letter was typed and the paper ranged from high quality to loose scraps, and as the war progressed supplies dwindled. With letterhead paper, naming a unit or organisation, do not assume that was where the person was when writing. Paper was borrowed and passed on to mates. Occasionally, a Telegram was sent where the emphasis was on brevity as each word added more to the cost.

The standard of writing is directly related to the standard of education and sometimes a friend or a Chaplain would write a letter on a person’s behalf. Many of the letters were addressed to Mr Marshall (or just Jack), his wife, a member of the voluntary committee, or the RSSAILA. Some letters are very brief while others are detailed and mention other people, or events they have witnessed. The Marshall’s also lost their son John while on Active Service, and some writers asked about John or acknowledged his death to the family.

For most of the war, letters were subject to censorship and this is often observed in a cutout section on a page – if the other side was written on it was also deleted. Many letters have the initials or the signature of the person who checked them prior to posting.

Click HERE for a full indroduction.

click on a service profile below to find links to the individual letters.

Twenty three letters, including Telegrams, were sent by civilians to the War Service Fund commencing in 1940 through to 1945. As Mr Jack Marshall was the Chair of the Service (Comfort) Fund, President of the RSSAILA and an Island Councillor, some people would cover a number of topics in the one letter. This has been identified where possible, noting that deciphering hand writing can make this difficult. Jack would notate the actions he took often on a letter. Apart from Stella Stillman who wrote after her discharge from Army, none of the writers enlisted so they do not have a page on the Virtual War Memorial of Australia website. Accordingly, they are all included in this document: HERE