O'CONNOR, William Joseph
| Service Number: | 436656 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 February 1943 |
| Last Rank: | Warrant Officer |
| Last Unit: | Aircrew Holding Units |
| Born: | Beverley, Western Australia, 30 September 1924 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Aquinas College, Perth, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Died: | Coral Bay, Western Australia, 6 September 1977, aged 52 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 27 Feb 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Warrant Officer, 436656, Aircrew Holding Units | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Apr 1946: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Warrant Officer, 436656, Aircrew Holding Units |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Youngest of three brothers who served in WWII, Warrant Officer William Joseph O'Connor (Service No:436656) enlisted in the RAAF on 27 February 1943 at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth as an Aircraftman II - mustered as Air Crew. By December that year he was a Sergeant (Airman Pilot), and in 1944 was in the UK, attached to No 11 Despatch and Personnel Receiving Centre (DPRC). Flight Sergeant O'Connor was attached to 71 Operational Base Unit (OBU) Pearce and 74 OBU Carnarvon, and flew Tiger Moth, Avro Anson, Oxford, Wellington and Lancaster aircraft. In June 1945 he was appointed Warrant Officer, and was attached to 9 Air Crew Holding Unit at Discharge on 2 April 1946.
Youngest of seven children, Bill was born in Beverley, Western Australia in 1924 to Francis Daniel O'Connor (b1881 at Port Wakefiled, South Australia) and Agnes Anastasia Roddan (b1882 in Lismore, New South Wales). Francis (a Blacksmith in Narrogin) and Agnes married in Northam in 1908, and lived in Narrogin, Merredin, Beverley and Yilgarn before settling in Perth in the late 1930s - Francis was a Blacksmith.
Bill was a student at Aquinas College in Perth in 1942, and following Discharge from the RAAF, returned to Perth where he completed University studies and qualified as a Teacher. Bill lived in Maylands with his parents and older brother Frank, working as a Teacher until his death at Coral Bay Caravan Park in 1977.
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