Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer Archie Lionel Tanner (Service No:11674) enlisted in the RAAF on 5 August 1940 at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne as an Aircraftman I - mustered as General Clerk, re mustered as Pay Clerk. Promoted to Flight Sergeant on 1 February 1942, he served in the UK with HQ RAAF and was attached to RAF Stations at Lindholme and Brighton (16 January 1943 - 25 June 1945). WO Tanner was attached to South HQ at Discharge on 22 October 1945.

Archie was born in Beverley, Western Australia in 1908, third of four children of Edgar Tanner (b1874 in Lara via Geelong, Victoria) and Emily Prosser (b1882 at Port Augusta, South Australia). Edgar was a Striker with the WA Government Railways in 1901 when he and Emily married in Albany, where Edgar worked as a Striker and Labourer. By 1908 Edgar and Emily had moved to Beverley and then Gin Gin, where Edgar was a Publican, before moving to Victoria in 1914 - Edgar was Licensed Victually/Publican at the Casterton Hotel when he died in 1919.

Archie started work in Melbourne with the Commercial Bank of Australia (CBA), and in 1933 married Edna May Smith (b1912 in Camperdown, Victoria). Archie and Edna settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Archie worked for the Commercial Bank of Australia (CBA) as a Clerk, Teller and Accoutnant. Following his Discharge from the RAAF, Archie resumed employment with the Bank and, like his older brother Edgar, was involved in boxing - he was Victoriian lightweight amateur boxing champion, and boxing referee at the  Olympic Games (Melbourne 1956; Rome 1960; Tokyo 1964; Mexico City 1968) and at the Commonwealth Games (Perth 1962; Jamaica 1966). From 1967 to 1970 Archie wa a Member of the Legislative Assembley (seat of Morwell). Archie died in 1975 and Edna in 2000.