Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eldest of four brothers who served in WWII, Signalman Ernest Henry Franklin (Service No:WX10663) enlisted in the AIF in Perth on 15 January 1941 as a Private, and served in Palestine and Syria (9 September 1941 - 19 March 1943), in New Guinea (12 August 1942 - 25 June 1943), and Morotai and Labuan (13 March 1945 - 4 January 1946). Signalman Franklin was attached to 3 Australian Technical Maintenance Section at Discharge on 7 February 1946.

Ernie was born at Marrinup via Stratham, Western Australia in 1911, eldest of seven children of Herbert (Bertie) Franklin (b1886 in Melbourne, Victoria) and his first wife Alice Amy Aitken (b1890 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Bertie later changed his name to Herbert Augustus Theodore Franklin. Bertie moved to Western Australia in the early 1900s, and was a Gardener in Leonora when he and Alice married in 1911. The family moved often (Alice was frequently left on her own with the children) - Marrinup where Bertie was a Timber Feller, Bunbury where he was a Sleeper Hewer, Midland JUnction where he worked as a Porter and Labourer, Greenbushes where he was a Guard for the Timber Corporation. In 1916 Bertie enlisted briefly (August - December) in the Army (Private; Service No:8709), and in the 1920s left his family and returned to Victoria, where he remarried. Alice remarried and lived in Mt Magnet.

Ernie worked in Elgin as a Labourer and Truck Driver before enlisting in the Army. Following his Discharge, in 1946 he married Mavis Jean Scott (b1920 in Bunbury, Western Australia). Ernie and Mavis settled at 'Eugenia' in Vasse, where they raised their family and Ernie was a Farmer. Ernie died in 1984 and Mavis in 1998.