John Edward (Jack) O'SULLIVAN

O'SULLIVAN, John Edward

Service Number: WX2778
Enlisted: 15 May 1940
Last Rank: Staff Sergeant
Last Unit: 2/2nd Forestry Company RAE
Born: Dwellingup, Western Australia, 7 April 1916
Home Town: Manjimup, Manjimup, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Timber Worker
Died: Duncraig, Perth, Western Australia, 3 January 2017, aged 100 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Privately Cremated
PINNAROO VALLEY MEMORIAL PARK Cremation Ashes collectedj
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

15 May 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Staff Sergeant, WX2778
31 May 1940: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX2778, 2/2nd Forestry Company RAE, embarked Fremantle for Liverpool on board the Stratheden
12 Nov 1943: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Sergeant, WX2778, 2/2nd Forestry Company RAE, embarked England for Brisbane on board Henry Ainsworth
21 Sep 1945: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Staff Sergeant, WX2778

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Eldest of the five siblings who served in WWII, Staff Sergeant John Edward O'Sullivan (Service No:WX2778) enlisted in the AIF on 15 May 1940 (Trade Group: Axeman) and was a Private attached to 2/2 Australian Forestry Coy RAE on 31 May 1940 when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for Liverpool on board the Stratheden. On 12 November 1943 Staff Sergeant O'Sullivan embarked from England for Brisbane on board the Henry Ainsworth, and was attached to 2/2 Forestry Coy RAE at Discharge on 21 September 1945.

Jack was born in Dwellingup, Western Australia in 1916, eldest of seven children of Michael James O'Sullivan (b1888 in Heathcote via Bendigo, Victoria) and Sarah McCarthy (b1886 in Melbourne, Victoria). Michael was a Sleeper Carter in 1915  when he and Sarah married in Dwellingup, where Michael worked as a Timber Carter before the family moved to Bunbury in 1919. Michael was a Timber Inspector in Bunbury, and in the early 1920s he and Sarah settled in Manjimup, where they raised their family and Michael was a Forestry Officer. Following Sarah's death in 1940, Michael remained in Manjimup until his death in 1968.

Jack started work in Manjimup as a Labourer, and was a Timber Worker in 1940 when he enlisted in the Army. In 1943 in Scotland he married Jean E Martin (b1920 in Dumfries-shire, Scotland) - Jack was posted back to Australia in November that year, and Jean arrived in Fremantle in 1944 on board the Nestor. Following his Discharge from the Army, Jack and Jean settled in Perth, where Jack joined the Police Force - as a Constable in Guildford in 1949, and in 1954 he was undercover with Perth Liquor Branch. In the late 1950s Jack and Jean settled in Floreat Park, where they raised their family and Jack was a Policeman until retirement. Both Jack and Jean died in 2017.

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