KING, Benjamin Sidney
| Service Number: | WX9998 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 December 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Perth, Western Australia, 15 October 1913 |
| Home Town: | Bullsbrook, Swan, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 25 May 1965, aged 51 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Midland Cemetery, Western Australia The Western Australian Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 13 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998 | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Jul 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998, 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion, embarked Fremantle for Middle East | |
| 26 Jan 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998, 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion, embarked Middle East for Fremantle | |
| 16 Aug 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998, embarked Cairns for Milne Bay on board the Manora | |
| 31 Jan 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998, embarked Finschafen for Townsville on board Thomas Corwin | |
| 29 Aug 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9998 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
One of four brothers who served in WWII, Private Benjamin Sidney King (Service No:WX9998) enlisted in the AIF on 13 December 1940 with 3 Infantry Training Battalion - graded Driver Mechanic. Private King served with 2/43 Infantry Battalion in the Middle East (4 July 1941 - 26 January 1943) and New Guinea (16 August 1943 - 31 January 1944). Posted to 2/1 Australian Guard Regiment on 27 September 1944, Private King was Discharged on 29 August 1945.
Ben was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1913, fourth of five children of Sydney Ernest King (b1876 in Middlesex, England) and Lillian Esther Hatten (b1875 in Suffolk, England). Sydney (a Commercial Clerk) and Lillian (a Domestic Servant) married in 1907 in Suffolk, and in 1913 were in Norfolk, where Sydney was an Emigration Clerk when he and Lillian immigrated with their three children. The family arrived in Fremantle WA in board the Ajan, and settled in Perth where they raised their family and Sydney worked as a Shop Assistant and Salesman until his death in 1932 - Lillian died in 1927.
Ben was working as a Shop Assistant in Perth in 1933 when he applied (unsuccessfully) to enlist in the Militia. In 1936 Ben was a Labourer in Bullsbrook when he married his first wife, Nellie May Moss (b1924) - divorced 1944. Following his Discharge from the Army, Ben settled in Bullsbrook where he was a Farmer, and in Busselton in 1955, married second wife Cecilia Matson (b1936 in Melbourne, Victoria). Ben and Cecilia settled in Belmont in Perth, where Ben died in 1965. Cecilia later worked as a Nursing Assistant in Greenmount.
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