TAYLOR, Kenneth Alexander Mcrae
| Service Number: | VX6913 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 November 1939 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/2nd Ordnance Stores Company |
| Born: | Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 23 September 1910 |
| Home Town: | Alexandra, Murrindindi, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Drover and Labourer |
| Died: | Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, 21 September 1960, aged 49 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 25 Nov 1939: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX6913 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX6913, 2nd/8th Infantry Battalion, embarked Port Melbourne for Kantara and service Egypt, Libya, Greece and Crete | |
| 3 Mar 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX6913, 2nd/2nd Ordnance Stores Company, embarked Middle East for Sydney | |
| 6 Oct 1943: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX6913 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Eldest of four brothers (Kenneth, John, Donald and Ian) who served in WWII, Private Kenneth Alexander McRae Taylor (Service Nos:12794/VX6913) initially served in the Militia from 29 February 1932 as a Trooper attached to 20th Light Horse Regiment before enlisting in the AIF on 25 November 1939. Private Taylor was attached to 2/8 Infantry Battalion on 14 April 1940 when he embarked with his Unit from Port Melbourne for Kantara and service in Egypt, Libya, Greece and Crete. On 3 March 1943 Private Taylor was attached to 2/2 Ordnance Stores Coy when he embarked from the Middle East for Sydney, and was Discharged on 6 October 1943.
Kenneth was born in 1910 in Ballarat, Victoria, second of six children of Alexander (Alex) McLennan Taylor (b1882 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Lily Victoria May Bond (b1887 at Dean's Marsh via Lorne, Victoria). Alex had joined the Victorian Government Railways (VGR) in 1900, and was a Number Taker in 1910 when he and Lily married in Ballarat. Alex and Lily settled in Ballarat, where they raised their family and ALex worked for the VGR as a Shunter, and was President of the Ballarat Literary and Debating Union, a member of the Natives' Association and Vice President of the Victorian Railways Union. In 1920 Alex and Lily moved to Melbourne, where Alex was State Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Railways Union and served as President of the Fitzroy Branch of the Natives' Association.
Kenneth worked as Drover and Labourer in Alexandra before enlisting in the Army. In 1940 in Melbourne he married his first wife Hazel Jean Gannaway (b1920 in Bendigo, Victoria), and following his Discharge from the Army, he and Hazel lived in Alexandra where Kenneth was a Labourer. By 1950 they had moved to Melbourne, where they divorced and both remarried - Kenneth in 1954 to Irene (Sis) Veronica Rogers (b1915 in Hamilton, Tasmania) - Sis was working in Melbourne as a Home Nurse. Kenneth and Sis settled in Melbourne, where Kenneth worked as an Agent and Labourer until his death in 1960. Sis died in 2014.
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