Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Able Seaman Kevin John Byrne (Service No:W3218) served in the RAN from 17 July 1945, originally as an Ordinary Seaman. Rated Stoker in 1946 on board HMAS Kuttabul, he was attached to HMAS Penguin at Discharge on 6 November 1947. Older brother Thomas also served in the RAN in WWII.

Kevin (nicknamed 'The Captain') was born in Benalla, Victoria in 1926, third of four children of Francis (Frank) Byrne (b1894 in Steiglitz, Victoria) and Alice Louisa Brown (b1901 in Stratford, Victoria). Frank (a Labourer) served in WWI (Private; Service No:1632), and following his Discharge joined the Railways (VGR). He and Alice married in 1923 in Stratford, and lived at Baddaginnie via Benalla and Stratford, where they raised their family and Frank was a Railways Employee.

Kevin worked in Maryborough, Victoria as a Labourer prior to enlisting in the RAN and, following his Discharge, worked there and Violet Town as a Process Worker and Labourer. In 1954 in Linton, Kevin married Margaret Cooper Richardson (b1923 in Linton, Victoria) - Margaret was a Nurse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Kevin and Margaret lived in Linton, where Kevin was a Labourer, before separating in the early 1960s - Margaret settled in Ballarat and Kevin moved to Melbourne, where he worked as a Boilermaker/Boiler Attendant. Kevin died in 2008 and Margaret in 2014.