Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leading Aircraftman John Stephen Purtell (Service No:88802) enlisted in the RAAF at No 6 Recruiting Centre Hobart on 22 November 1943 as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Trainee Technical, re mustered as Fitter Mechanic. Promoted to Leading Aircraftman on 23 October 1944, LAC Purtell was attached to Care and Maintenance Unit (CMU) Western Junction at Discharge on 15 October 1946.

Eldest of five children, John was born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1925 to Thomas (Tom/Frank) Gabriel Purtell (b1899 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia) and Kathleen Olive Winifred Hannan (b1901 in Brighton, Tasmania). Tom (a Teacher) and Kathleen (Relieving Postmistress) married in Pontville in 1925, and lived in Hamilton, Campbell Town, Waratah and Latrobe where they raised their family and Tom was a Teacher and Headmaster. Following his Discharge from the Army in 1946, Tom and Katherine lived in New Norfolk before settling in Hobart in 1950. Tom was Headmaster at Campbell Street State School when he died in 1956.

John had been a Boarder and St Virgil's College in Hobart, and was a Junior Teacher at the college in May 1943 when he enkisted in the RAAF (Air Training Corps) - he had served four years with Senior Military Cadets. Following his Discharge in 1946, John worked as a Clerk at Devon Public Hospital, where he met Doris Eileen Devine (b1925 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Doris was a Nurse at the Hospital. John and Doris married in 1949 in New Norfolk, and settled in Hobart where John worked as a Clerk and Civil Servant. Doris died in 2008 and John in 2014.