Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Charles Frederick Hughes (Service No:WX32908) initially served in the ACMF (Private; Service No:W24395) with 11th Battalion (WA) VDC from 15 December 1941 to 27 August 1942. Private Hughes transferred to the AIF on 28 August 1942 and served with 11th Infantry Battalion in Darwin, NT (13 March 1943 to 25 November 1944). He embarked from Darwin for Jacquinot Bay on 25 November 1944 on board USAT Jane Adams, and embarked from Rabaul for Brisbane on 13 December 1945 on board the Westralia. Private Hughes was Discharged on 8 January 1946.

Born in London, England in 1912, Charles was the third of five children of Roland William Hughes (b1889 in London, England) and Lydia Cotsford (b1890 in London, England). Roland (a Pawnbroker's Assistant) and Lydia married in 1909 in London, where they lived and Roland was a Munitions Worker and Art Metal Worker and Clock Mounter. Roland served in the British Army in WWI (Driver; Regimental No:292039) and in 1927 he and Lydia immigrated with their family, arriving in Fremantle, WA on board the Orama. The couple lived in Perth and Fremantle where Roland was a Labourer, before separating in 1930 (they Divorced in 1952) - Roland moved to NSW and Lydia remained in WA.

Charles, fifteen years of age when he left England, was an Art Metal Worker in London. He worked as a Labourer and Shearer in the Mid West of WA, and in 1941 was a Shearer at Dandaragan when he enlisted in the Army. Following his Discharge in January 1946, Charles settled in Fremantle WA where he married Edith Ruby Curedale (b1924 in Fremantle, WA). Charles and Edith settled in Kwinana, WA where they raised their family and Charles worked as a Shearer before settling in Fremantle in the early 1960s, where Charles was a Labourer. Charles died in 1994 and Edith in 2004.