COLES, Robert Leonard
Service Number: | 79233 |
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Enlisted: | 28 October 1942 |
Last Rank: | Leading Aircraftman |
Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
Born: | Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, 16 August 1924 |
Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
Occupation: | Storeman |
Died: | Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia, 28 September 2010, aged 86 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
28 Oct 1942: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 79233 | |
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3 Apr 1946: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 79233 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Leading Aircraftman Robert Leonard Coles (Service No:79233) enlisted in the RAAF on 28 October 1942 as an Aircraftman I - mustered initially as Trainee Technical then re-mustered as Flight Rigger. LAC Coles was stationed in the Middle East, Gibraltar, England, Italy and Germany, attached to 73 and 458 Squadrons, 22 and 54 PTC and was attached to 54 Base at Discharge.
Born in 1924 in Toowoomba QLD, Rob was the youngest of six children of George Francis Coles (b1885 in Brisbane, QLD) and Sarah Jane Seel (b1888 in Toowoomba, QLD). George (a Labourer) and Sarah married in 1910 in Brisbane and by 1915 had settled in Toowoomba where they raised their family and George was a Labourer and Railways Employee. In May 1916 George enlisted in the AIF following pressure from two of his brothers - Sarah objected on the basis of ill health and two small children, and George was Discharged the following month (National Archives Australia).
Rob spent some years as a Ward of the State living in Brisbane, where he was working as a Storeman in 1942 when he enlisted in the RAAF. He had previously worked as a Farm Hand. Following his Discharge, Rob returned to Toowoomba and worked as a Labourer before becoming a Foreman and in 1954 marrying Heather Joan Booth (b1929 in Warwick, QLD). Rob and Heather settled in Toowoomba where Rob was a Foreman and Superintendent. The couple retired to Tweed Heads NSW by 1990 - Rob died in 2010 and Heather in 2014.