Herbert Lee WESTLAKE

Herbert Lee WESTLAKE Update Details

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WESTLAKE, Herbert Lee

Service Number:	19627
Enlisted:	13 November 1940
Last Rank:	Corporal
Last Unit:	Not yet discovered
Born:	Kenmare, Victoria, Australia, 15 July 1905
Home Town:	Portland, Glenelg, Victoria
Schooling:	Gordon Technical College Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Occupation:	Motor Mechanic
Died:	Portland, Victoria, Australia, 15 August 1979, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Portland South Cemetery, Victoria, Australia
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

13 Nov 1940:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 19627
24 Jan 1947:	Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 19627

Help us honour Herbert Lee Westlake's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Corporal Herbert Lee Westlake (Service No:19627) enlisted in the RAAF on 13 November 1940 as an Aircraftman I at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne - mustered as Fitter. In 1941 ACI Westlake was at No 1 Engineering School Ascot Vale and RAAF Base Laverton, and was promoted to Leading Aircraftman on 1 October 1941. Promoted to Corporal on 1 August 1942, he was attached to 1 Embarkation Depot at Discharge on 24 January 1947.

Fifth of six children, Herbert was born in Kenmare, Victoria in 1905 to William Henry Westlake (b1864 at Big Gorge in Yankalilla, South Australia) and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Esther Dellar (b1868 in Hamilton, Victoria). William had settled in Kenmare in 1898 and was a Farmer when he and Lizzie married in 1895 in Willenabrina. They lived in Kenmare and Portland where they raised their family and William was a Farmer. William served as a Borough councillor and member of the Hospital Board and was a prominent member and life Deacon of the Baptist Church (Trove: Obituary 1949).

Herbert attended Gordon Technical College in Geelong and completed an apprenticeship with Hedditch and Coughlin Garage Portland). He worked as a Motor Mechanic and in 1931 in Portland married Monica Mary Papley (b1913 in Portland, Victoria). Herbert and Monica settled in Portland where they raised their family and Herbert worked as a Motor Mechanic until 1949. Herbert was described by Constable Cullen (NAA 1940) as '.... a man of excellent character and reputation and is of sober habits'. By 1951 Herbert was a Farmer in Portland where he died in 1979. Monica died in 1991.

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