Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Youngest of four brothers (Tom, Jim and Vin) who served in WWII, Lance Corporal Paul Gabriel Purtell (Service No:VX38118) enlisted in the AIF on 29 July 1940 as a Private attached to Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC), 7th Australian General Hospital. Private Purtell served with HQ 6 Division in the Middle East (3 February 1941 - 7 March 1942), Darwin NT (10 April 1942 - 18 August 1942) and Singapore (27 August 1945 - 22 November 1945). Lance Corporal Purtell was attached to HQ 6 Division at Discharge on 17 December 1945.

Paul was born in Albany, Western Australia in 1915, sixth of nine children of John Joseph Purtell (b1872 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Emily Ethel Tanner (b1878 in Melbourne, Victoria). John (a Prospector) and Emily married in 1899 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and lived there and in Albany and Ravensthorpe where they raised their family and John was a Prospector, Labourer and Smelter Hand. John served in the AIF in WWI (2nd Corporal; Service No:4244) and, following his Discharge, was in Yalgoo, Western Australia in 1918, prospecting with two other Returned Soldiers, when they uncovered the largest (at that date) gold nugget found in Australia (over 100lbs). John and Emily moved their family to Melbourne in the early 1920s - John worked in Coburg on the railways, before prospecting in the 1930s at Ballarat, Bendigo and Echuca, and at Brown Hill and Kookynie in the Kalgoorlie region in Western Australia. In the late 1930s John retired to Melbourne. Emily was a talented musician and artist, and was involved in the Labor movement in Coburg and with the Trades Hall Council.

Paul worked as a Clerk on leaving school, and with his brother Vin was a member of a quartet known as the Rhythm Kings. He was establishing a reputation as a promising Radio Broadcaster, Commentator, writer, musician and performer, known for his ability to impersonate well known personalities and as a versatile vaudeville performer and operetta writer before enlisting in the AIF in 1940. Whilst in the Army, Paul entertained fellow soldiers, performing in concerts to aid the Australian Comforts Fund. Following his Discharge from the Army, Paul returned to Melbourne and resumed work as a Clerk, Radio Announcer/Commentator, Musician and Actor with Radio KZ and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Paul died in 1999.