PURTELL, James Patrick
| Service Numbers: | V60748, VX107789 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 December 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 59th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Midland Junction, Western Australia, 21 October 1903 |
| Home Town: | Moreland, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | St Joseph’s Convent, Albany, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Civil Servant |
| Died: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 June 1972, aged 68 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 15 Dec 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V60748, 58/59 (amalgamated) Infantry Battalion AMF | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jul 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V60748, 59th Infantry Battalion | |
| 15 Jul 1942: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, VX107789 | |
| 13 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, VX107789 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
One of four brothers (Tom, Vin and Paul) who served in WWII, Corporal James Patrick Purtell (Service Nos:V60748.VX107789) initially served in the Militia (1937/1940; Part Time Duty) before enlisting in the ACMF on 15 December 1941 as a Private attached to 59th Battalion. Private Purtell then enlisted in the AIF on 15 July 1942, and was attached to 22 Coy AASC. Promoted to Corporal on 7 May 1943, he served with 18th Infantry Battalion and was attached to 17 Australian Personnel Staging Camp at Discharge on 13 December 1945.
Jim was born in Midland, Western Australia in 1903, third of nine children of John Joseph Purtell (b1872 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Emily Ethel Tanner (b1878 in Melbourne, Victoria). John was a Prospector in 1899 when he and Emily married in Kalgoorlie, and they lived in Norseman and Albany, where they raised their family and John worked as a Miner, Labourer and Smelter Hand. John served in the AIF in WWI (2nd Corporal; Service No:4244), and following his Discharge, was Mining at Yalgoo with two other Returned Soldiers when they uncovered the largest (to that date) gold nugget discovered in Australia (over 100lbs). John and Emily moved their family to Victoria in the early 1920s - John worked on the Railways, then as a Miner in Echuca and Ballarat before returning to the Western Australian Goldfields in the 1930s - Browns Hill and Kookynie. By 1934 John had rejoined Emiy in Melbourne.
Jim joined the Civil Service on leaving school - employment he maintained in Melbourne until his death. In 1950 in Melbourne, Jim married Mary Patricia Daley (b1915 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Mary was a Stenographer in Melbourne. Jim died in 1972 and Mary in 1996.
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