Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private John Emmanuel Blucher (Service No:VX96397) served in the AIF from 14 February 1945 to 16 January 1947, and was attached to 120 General Transport Coy at Discharge. Sibling Frederick served in the RAAF in WWII.

John was born in Dandenong, Victoria in 1926, youngest of four children of Johan (John) Heinrich Blucher (b1880 in Wittenburg, Germany) and Minnie Nathalia Wanke (b1891 in Harkaway, Gippsland, Victoria). John Snr immigrated with his parents and siblings in 1891, arriving in Melbourne on board the Erlangen. John Snr was a Farmer in Jumbuk via Morwell, and he and Minnie married in Morwell in 1912. John and Minnie settled in Jumbuk, where they raised their family and John was a Farmer. The family moved to Koo Wee Rup in Cardinia in the early 1930s, before moving to Melbourne in the mid 1930s - John worked as a Labourer. By the early 1940s John and Minnie had returned to Gippsland - John worked in Bushy Park and Boisdale via Maffra as a Timber Cutter.

John worked at Bushy Park as a Truck Driver and Charcoal Burner before enlisting in the Army. He was a Factory Worker 1953 in Morwell, where he married Margaret Dixon (b1929 in Maffra, Victoria). John and Margaret lived in Maffra and Morwell, where they raised their family and John was a Truck Driver. The couple divorced in 1977, and through the late 1970s, John was at the Hobson Park Hospital in Traralgon. Margaret died in 2003.