BLAIR, Thomas William
| Service Number: | NX104344 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 July 1942 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd AIF Anti Aircraft Units |
| Born: | Cobar, New South Wales, Australia, 15 June 1910 |
| Home Town: | Leichhardt, Leichhardt, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Boot Repairer |
| Died: | Emphysema, Yagoona, New South Wales, Australia, 9 July 1987, aged 77 years |
| Cemetery: |
Rookwood Cemeteries & Crematorium, New South Wales Rookwood Anglican Cemetery, Zone D, Section 16, Grave 178. Buried in same grave as his wife Gladys. |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 18 Jul 1942: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX104344 | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 1943: | Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Gunner, 2nd AIF Anti Aircraft Units, 228 Australian Anti Aircraft Battery. Relocated to the Western Australia Line of Communication Area. Group III Gun Layer. | |
| 24 Oct 1943: | Transferred Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Gunner, 2nd AIF Anti Aircraft Units, 228 Australian Anti Aircraft Battery. Relocated to the Queensland Line of Communication Area. | |
| 1 Aug 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX104344 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Matthew Rutkin
Thomas William Blair was the eldest of three children born to William Thomas Blair and Alice Fitzgerald his wife at Cobar in outback NSW.
Tom's family relocated from Cobar to Sydney in about 1925, likely because Tom's father William had Tuberculosis. William would subsequently move to the Sanatorium at Waterfall south of Sydney, where he died of Tuberculosis in 1929.
Tom, his siblings and their widowed mother lived at 72 Bridge Road Camperdown, and Tom worked nearby as a Boot Repairer. Across the road lived the Kerr family and their 21 year old daughter Gladys married 23 year old Tom in 1934 at St Stephen's Anglican Church in Newtown.
Tom and Gladys had two children, a daughter and a son.
On 18 July 1942, during WW2, Tom enlisted with the 2nd AIF and served with the 19th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. He was posted to Western Australia as a Group III Gun Layer with the 228 Light Anti Aircraft Battery in February 1943. In October 1943 he was relocated across the country to Queensland.
On 1 August 1945 Tom was discharged from the 2nd AIF on compassionate grounds, his wife Gladys was unwell.
Gladys died of cancer on 14 December 1948.
Tom died at hospital in 1987 at the age of 77 and was buried with Gladys in the Anglican section at Rookwood.
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