Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Leslie Gathorne Bedford Russell (Service No:V363780) enlisted in the ACMF on 21 March 1942 with 6th Metropolitan Battalion 'D' Coy. He was attached to 3 Battalion VDC when he was Discharged on 22 April 1943.

Born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1914, Leslie (aka Peter) was the third of four children of Leslie Frederick Russell (b1881 in Bendigo, Victoria) and Winifred Margaret Nance (b1886 in Yorkshire, England - Winifred had emigrated with her parents and siblings in 1889, arriving in Melbourne, Victoria on board the Orient. Leslie Snr (a Barrister) and Winifred (a Teacher) married in 1910 in Melbourne, Victoria. The couple lived in Kingslake and Dandenong, Victoria before settling in Melbourne. Leslie was a Barrister and Solicitor.

In 1932 Peter started work at Russell Manufacturing Coy Pty Ltd - a piston and piston ring manufacturing company which later became Repco. Peter was responsible for setting up the first laboratory and undertook night studies to gain a Diploma of Metallurgical Engineering. In April 1942 he was sent by the Australian Government to the USA to study piston ring manufacture. 

In 1942 in Melbourne Victoria, Peter married Montolieu Ella Murray (b 1913 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Montolieu was serving in the WAAF (Service No:350126) at the time. The couple settled in Melbourne, Victoria where Peter worked as a Metallurgist, General Manager with Russell Manufacturing and Chief Engineer with Repco Coy. Peter died in 1972 and Montolieu in 2004