Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Robert Charles Herbert (Service Nos:VX65399/VX80764) enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne on 28 October 1941, attached to 2/27 Independent Brigade Workshops. Private Herbert served with 10 Training Battalion and 5 Pioneers Coy before enlisting on 27 June 1942 under a false name (Robert Charles Brandon, giving false DoB and place of birth as Warwick QLD, and false father's name). He served as Private Brandon with Australian Armored Corps Training Regiment, and on 22 February 1943 made a Statutory Declaration, giving his correct details and stating he had enlisted without obtaining a Discharge (NAA). Private Herbert served with 2 Australian Field Coy RAE, and was attached to 2/27 Australian Light AA Battery on 30 January 1946 when he was Discharged to enlist in the RAAF (Flight Sergeant).

Bob was born in Yea, Victoria in 1923, second of five children of Francis Robert Athol Herbert (aka Robert Frank; b1893 in Wilcannia, NSW) and Myrtle May Elizabeth Collins (b1900 in Yea, Victoria). Frank served in WWI (Private; Service No:147) and was a Farm Labourer at Strath Creek via Broadford, Victoria in 1922 when he and Myrtle married in Yea. Frank and Myrtle settled at Flowerdale via Broadford, where they raised their family and Frank was a Farmer (awarded a farm at Flowerdale under 'Battle to Farms'). In the 1930s the family moved into Broadford, where Frank was a Labourer, before moving to Melbourne where Frank worked as a Telephone Linesman.

Bob had left home in his early teens and was living with a Guardian (Bertram Neilson) in Alphington, Melbourne where he worked as a Mail Sorter before enlisting in the Army. In 1950 Bob was in Melbourne when he married Jane Shepperd (nee Lebanon; b1919 in Sydney, NSW) - Jane was separated from her first husband and working as a Bookkeeper in St Kilda. Bob and Jane divorced in Melbourne in 1955 - both remarried. Bob was in Gosford NSW in the early 1960s, when he married Lorraine Dawn (a Dancer). Bob worked as a Radio Officer - in Broome WA in the mid 1960s, moving to Bronte in Sydney in 1968. In the early 1970s, Bob and Lorraine settled in Armidale NSW, where Bob worked as a Theatre Supervisor until retirement. Bob died in 1999 and Lorraine in 2013.