Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Captain Charles Ernest Oates (Service Nos:W233852/WX30563) initially served in the ACMF (8 May 1940 - 13 November 1941) as a Bombardier attached to 7 Heavy Artillery Brigade Fremantle Fixed Defence (FFD) and was a Lieutenant when he volunteered for the AIF on 14 November 1941. Lieutenant Oates served with Heavy Artillery Albany and was appointed Captain on 16 october 1943. Captain Oates was attached to Fremantle Coastal Artillery at Discharge on 11 October 1945. His father William and Uncle Josiah served in WWI, and three brothers - William, Hugh and Sydney - served in WWII.

Born in Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia in 1907, Charles was fourth of six children of William Henry Oates (b1871 in Clunes, Victoria) and Eliza Fenton Simmons (b1873 in Armidale, New South Wales). William travelled to the Western Australian Goldfields in the mid 1890s, and was a Miner in 1897 when he and Eliza married in Coolgaride. They lived in Boulder before moving to Subiaco in Perth by 1910 - William was a Wood Merchant. The family had returned to Boulder by 1917, and William was a Miner when he enlisted in the AIF. Following his Discharge, William and Eliza settled in Albany - William was an 'Incapcitated Soldier' (He had been gassed in France). William died in 1924.

Charles worked as an Accountant in Perth, and in Albany in 1934 married Dorie Mary Elizabeth Vaughan (b1906 in Albany, Western Australia). Charles and Dorie lived in Bunbury and Albany, where Charles was an Accocuntant and Slaes Assistant before enlisting in the Army in 1940. Following his Discharge, Charles and Dorie settled in Corrigin, where they raised their family and Charles worked as a Salesman until his death in 1964. Dorie died in 2007.