William Leslie TANNER

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TANNER, William Leslie

Service Number:	WX18717
Enlisted:	7 January 1942
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	16 Infantry Battalion AMF
Born:	Perth, Western Australia, 27 July 1913
Home Town:	Katanning, Western Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Labourer/Miner
Died:	Perth, Western Australia, 5 April 1993, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213554982/william-leslie-tanner
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

7 Jan 1942:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18717, 16 Infantry Battalion AMF
21 Nov 1944:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18717, 2nd/14th Field Regiment, embarked Darwin for Jacquinot Bay
2 Jan 1946:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18717, 2nd/14th Field Regiment, embarked Rabaul for Melbourne
9 Jan 1946:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18717, 16 Infantry Battalion AMF

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private William Leslie Tanner (Service No:WX18717) enlisted in the AIF on 7 January 1942 with 5 Battalion. Private Tanner served in Darwin (25 September 1943 - 21 November 1944), embarking from there for Jacquinot Bay with 2/14th Field Regiment. On 2 January 1946 Private Tanner embarked from Rabaul for Melbourne, and was attached to 16 Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 9 January 1946. Two older brothers - Dick (Sergeant Clarence Joseph Tanner MiD; Service No:WX704) and Phil (Private Felix Ernest Tanner: Service No:WX2027) also served in WWII and were PoWs at Stalag XIIIC.

Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1913, William was the fifth child of Felix Ernest Tanner (b1877 at Lara via Geelong, Victoria) and Catherine Mary Kennedy (b1877 in Sale, Victoria). Following their marriege in 1896, Felix and Catherine moved to Parkes, New South Wales, and in 1900 to Perth, Western Australia. Felix worked as an Engine Driver in Perth and Katanning, and worked in Katanning for the Flour Mill. Felix was a Publican - in 1917 at Woodanilling via Wagin and in 1921 at Moojebing via Katanning. In 1950 Felix and Catherine returned to Perth.

William worked as Labourer/Miner in Katanning, where in 1940 he married Doreen (Dorrie) Agnes Hambly (b1917 at Phillips River via Esperance, Western Australia) - Dorrie was a Barmaid in Albany at the White Star Hotel. William and Dorrie settled in Katanning, where William was a Laboure/Miner in 1942 when he enlisted in the Army. Following his Discharge, he and Dorrie settled in Katanning where they raised their family and William was a Labourer, and during the 1950s, Publican of the Federal Hotel. In the early 1960s William and Dorrie moved to Perth, where William worked as a Barman. William died in 1993 and Dorrie in 2015.

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