Thomas John (Tom) PURTELL

Thomas John (Tom) PURTELL Update Details

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PURTELL, Thomas John

Service Number:	VX63982
Enlisted:	13 October 1941
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	Not yet discovered
Born:	Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 21 June 1919
Home Town:	Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Tailor
Died:	Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 18 February 1999, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Eaglehawk Cemetery, Victoria
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

13 Oct 1941:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX63982
18 Apr 1942:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX63982

Help us honour Thomas John Purtell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Thomas John Purtell (Service No:VX63982) initially served in the Militia (Private; Service No:V40136) with 37/52 Battalion and 24/39 Battalion from 20 February 1935 to 4 August 1941. Private Purtell served in the AIF from 13 October 1941 to 18 April 1942 and was attached to 8 Armoured Regiment at Discharge (Medically Unfit). His brothers - Frank and Jack - also served in WWII.

Tom was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1919, second of three children of Thomas Francis Purtell (b1875 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Lillian (Lillie) Louisa Agnes Gee Sing (aka Stevens; b1882 in Deniliquin, New South Wales). Thomas was a Labourer and Groom in Ballarat before moving to Melbourne, where he and Lillie married in 1904. Thomas and Lillie settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Thomas worked as a Grocer and Cook and Lillie was a Restaurant Keeper. Following Thomas' death in 1929, Lillie remarried.

Tom worked as a Tailor's Cutter and then Tailor in Melbourne, where in 1946 he married Joan Caroline Leonard (b1922 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Joan was working as a Typist in Melbourne. Tom and Joan settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Tom worked as an Examiner before moving to Warnambool in the early 1960s. Tom worked as a Tailor in Warnambool, and died in Bendigo in 1999. Joan died in 2017.

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