Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer John Arthur Winter (Service No:436421) served with the School Cadets (Scotch College) and No 5 Cadet Wing (77, 79 and 80 Squadrons Claremont) from 16 November 1941 (Service No:35109). On 2 January 1943, Aircraftman II Winter enlisted in the RAAF at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth - mustered as Air Crew and re mustered in September as Airman Pilot. In February 1944, he embarked from Brisbane for San Franciso en route for England, and was promoted to Sergeant on 23 March 1944. Sergeant Winter was attached to No 6 Advanced Flying Unit (AFU) and 9 Air Crew Holding Unit (ACHU) in the UK, and was appointed Warrant Officer on 23 March 1945. Described as 'a keen and cheerful NCO pilot who will make a good Captain' (NAA), WO Winter embarked from England for Perth on 28 October 1945, and was attached to 9 Air Crew Holding Unit at Discharge on 29 January 1946.

Jack was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1924, eldest child of John Alexander Winter (b1899 in Launceston, Tasmania) and Mabel Phyllis Carse (b1898 in Perth, Western Australia). John was a Farm Labourer in 1917 when he enlisted in the AIF (Private; Service No:7467), and following his Discharge was a Customs Officer based at Cottesloe Beach, Fremantle in 1923 when he and Mabel married in Perth. In the early 1930s John and Mabel settled in Perth, where they raised their family and John was a Supervisor with the Customs Department.

Jack's athletic ability was noted from an early age  - 'he frightened his parents and the neigbours by leaping over the clothes line in the backyard. Sometimes he fell into the dahlia patch' (The Sydney Morning Herald; 2004). He competed in and won High Jump Championships as a schoolboy, and was a member of the Cottesloe Athletic Club. Jack was competing (awarded the Helms Award as Australia's outstanding athlete) and working as Bank Clerk (National Bank of Australasia) when he enlisted in the RAAF in 1943. following his Discharge, Jack remained for a time in England 'working in factories and as a film extra, sometimes as an Egyptian, sometimes as a slave, in the film 'Caesar and Cleopatra' (The Sydney Morning Herald; 2004). In the 1948 Olympics Games, held in London, Jack became Western Australia's first gold medallist (and only Australian High Jump gold medallist). Although Jack retired from competition in 1950 after winning a gold medal at the Auckland British Empire Games, he remained involved in the Olympic movement, coaching junior athletes and supporting the Western Australian Olympic Council. In 1985 Jack was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions, and in 1986 to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. The Winter-Strickland Medal for athletics is named after him and his Olympic team mate Shirley Strickland. Returning to Perth, Jack resumed work in the Bank, and in 1949 in Perth married Frances Joan Lawley Smith (b1923 in Geraldton, Western Australia) - Frances was working in Perth as a Bank Officer. Jack and Frances settled in Perth, where they raised their family and Jack was a Bank Manager. Jack died in 2007 and Frances in 2017.