PETTIT, Kenneth Walter
| Service Number: | WX9636 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 December 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Dongara, Western Australia, 1 April 1920 |
| Home Town: | Mingenew, Mingenew, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm Labourer/Station Hand |
| Died: | Waikiki, Western Australia, 21 March 1966, aged 45 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park, Padbury, Western Australia The Western Australian Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: | Mingenew District Road Board WW2 Roll of Honour |
World War 2 Service
| 4 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jul 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 13 Training Battalion, embarked Fremantle for Middle East | |
| 7 Jan 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, embarked Middle East for Fremantle | |
| 7 Aug 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, embarked Cairns for Milne Bay | |
| 28 Jan 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion, embarked Finschhafen for Townsville on board Van Heutz | |
| 13 Nov 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX9636, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private (Driver) Kenneth Walter Pettit (Service No:WX9636) enlisted in the AIF on 9 December 1940 - 2 Training Battalion - and was attached to 13 Training Battalion when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for the Middle East on 5 July 1941. Private Pettit transferred to 2/28th Infantry Battalion in October 1941, and during his service in the Middle East was hospitalised with Measles and Gastritis. Private Pettit embarked from the Middle East for Fremantle on 9 January 1943, and in August that year embarked from Cairns for Milne Bay on board the Duntroon. He embarked from Finschaffen for Townsville on board the Van Heutz on 28 January 1944, and was hospitalised on arrival with Malaria. Private Pettit was attached to 2/28 Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 13 November 1945.
Ken was born in Mingenew, WA in 1920, sixth of nine children of Robert Percival Pettit (b1879 in Dongara, WA) and Mary (Minnie) Anne Watson (b1889 in Strawberry, WA). Robert was a Farmer on Brushwood Farm in Dongara when he and Minnie married in 1910 in Strawberry. They lived in Dongara, Strawberry and Mingenew, where they raised their family and Robert was a Labourer and Farmer.
Ken was working as a Farm Labourer/Station Hand in Mingenew in 1940 when he enlisted in the Army. Following his Discharge, he worked in Darwin, NT as a Taxi Driver before marrying Lila Rose Harper (b1933 in Mingenew, WA) in 1952 in Mingenew. Ken and Lila lived in Mingenew, where Ken was a Farmer, before moving to Boallia via Busselton and then Gin Gin where Ken was a Farmer. In the early 1960s Ken and Lila moved to Perth where Ken worked as a Butcher, and in the late 1960s they settled in Albany - Ken worked as a Dozer Driver and Contractor. In the late 1970s they moved to South Hedland, where Ken worked as a Driver before retiring to Waikiki. Ken died in 1996 and Lila in 2003.
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