Gordon Leslie DRAPER

DRAPER, Gordon Leslie

Service Numbers: 5931, V82560
Enlisted: 31 August 1916
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: Lines of Communication Units
Born: Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia, 12 January 1891
Home Town: Moonee Ponds, Moonee Valley, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Railway employee/Fruiter
Died: Truck accident - serious head injuries, 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg), Melbourne, Australia, 1 February 1945, aged 54 years
Cemetery: Springvale War Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria
115th Australian General , Springvale War Cemetery, Springvale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Euroa Telegraph Park
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World War 1 Service

31 Aug 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5931, 14th Infantry Battalion
2 Oct 1916: Involvement Private, 5931, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Nestor embarkation_ship_number: A71 public_note: ''
2 Oct 1916: Embarked Private, 5931, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Nestor, Melbourne
12 Jul 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 5931, 14th Infantry Battalion

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, V82560
15 Jan 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, V82560, Lines of Communication Units

Help us honour Gordon Leslie Draper's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From How We Served
 
The final resting place for; - 5931 & V82560 Private Gordon Leslie Draper of Moonee Ponds and West Preston, Victoria, who prior to his enlistment for War Service on the 12th of July 1916 had been engaged as a railway employee.

Gordon was allocated to reinforcements for the 23rd Battalion 1st AIF and was embarked for England and further training on the 2nd of October. Following his arrival in England, Gordon entered camp at Lark Hill where joined the 6th Overseas Training Battalion.
Aside slight bouts of sickness, Gordon remained on training duties until he was temporarily attached to the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital at Bulford from the 4th of April 1917 until he was re assigned to reinforcements for the 14th Battalion (Jacka’s Mob) at the start of March 1918.

Gordon was sent over to France where he disembarked on the 5th of March, and was officially taken on strength with this Battalion in the field on the 9th of March. Gordon would see continuous service in the trenches, until he was evacuated sick, suffering from debility, on the 12th of May and was returned to England for further medical treatment on the 29th of May.

Here Gordon would remain in for the duration of the War, and following his recovery he was assigned to training establishments in England. With the end of the Great War, Gordon began his repatriation to Australia, departed England on the 9th of March 1919.
Having arrived back in Australia, Gordon received his official discharge from the 1st AIF for his re-entry into civilian life on the 12th of July 1919.

With the outbreak of a Second World War, Gordon again presented himself for service with the Australian Military Forces on the 15th of January 1940.

Accepted for full time duty in Australia, Gordon was posted to the 3rd Garrison Battalion, and by October he had been detached for service with the 3rd Military District Provost Company with which he would remain until he was transferred to 3rd Military District Headquarters Lines of Communication Area in December 1942.

Whilst still on duty, Gordon was involved in a truck accident which caused him serious head injuries, and was admitted into the 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg) on the 30th of January 1945.
With no recovery, and whilst still a patient, Gordon succumbed to his injuries on the 1st of February 1945. Gordon was aged 54 at the time of his passing.

Following his death, Private Gordon Draper, a veteran of the ‘Great War’, who died whilst on service during the Second World War, was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria.

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