MATTHEWS, Wrenford Jack
| Service Number: | NX80546 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 December 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Mechanical Equipment Company/ies |
| Born: | Peak Hill, New South Wales, Australia , 2 August 1912 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Assembler |
| Died: | Moree, New South Wales, Australia , 14 June 1979, aged 66 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Moree Cemetery, NSW |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 29 Dec 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, NX80546, Mechanical Equipment Company/ies | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jan 1946: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, NX80546, Mechanical Equipment Company/ies |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Corporal Wrenford Jack Matthews (Service No:NX80546) enlisted in the AIF on 29 December 1941 as a Sapper attached to General Details Depot before being posted to 1 Australian Mechanical Equipment Coy (MEC) RAE - Plant Operator. Promoted to Lance Corporal in Darwin NT (10 April 1942 - 2 February 1943), he completed two Tours of Duty with 1 MEC in New Guinea (2 June 1943 - 1 March 1944 and 22 May 1944 - 16 August 1944). Corporal Matthews then served with 2/1 MEC in Borneo (10 March 1945 - 17 January 1946), and was Discharged on 29 January 1946. Corporal Matthews was one of five siblings (Lindsay, Tom, D'Arcy and Neville) who served in WWII.
Jack was born at Peak Hill, NSW in 1912, seventh of ten children of Sidney Richard Matthews (b1882 in Obley via Molong, NSW) and Emily Mary Clarissa Tyler (b1882 in Cobar, NSW). Sidney and Emily (both 17 years of age) married in 1900 in Peak Hill, where they settled and raised their family and Sidney was an Auctioneer (partner of the firm Messrs Roache & Matthews). By 1930 Sidney and Emily had moved to Sydney, where Sidney worked as a Clerk until his death in 1943.
Jack worked as an Assembler in Sydney, NSW where, in 1940, he married Enid (Joy) Mary Meers (b1915 in Sydney NSW) - Joy was working in Sydney as a Saleswoman. Following his Discharge from the Army in 1946, Jack and Joy moved to Narrabri NSW where Jack worked as a Travelling Salesman. In 1954 they settled in Moree, where Jack established WJ Matthews (Holdings) Pty Ltd - a Farm Machinery Dealership (currently third generation owned and managed). Jack and Joy raised their family in Moree, where Jack died in 1979, and Joy in 1993.
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