SMITH, John Ashton
| Service Number: | 29854 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 February 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Southern Cross, Western Australia, 11 March 1913 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Perth Junior Technical School Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Motor Mechanic |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 27 September 1981, aged 68 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 10 Feb 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 29854 | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Jan 1943: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman | |
| 1 Jan 1945: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal | |
| 1 Jan 1945: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal | |
| 18 Dec 1945: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 29854 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Corporal John Ashton Smith (Service No:29854) initially enlisted in the ACMF as a Private (Service No:W13210). He was attached to 13th Field Ambulance as a Truck Driver at No 4 Melville Military Camp when he was released for enlistment in the RAAF on 10 February 1941. Aircraftman I Smith enlisted at 4 Recruiting Centre Perth and mustered as a Trainee Mechanic and later as an Instrument Maker. ACI Smith attended No 4 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) in April 1941 and 2 Bombing and Gunnery School (BaGS) Port Pirie in October 1942, and in January 1943 was promoted to Leading Aircraftman. As LAC, he attended No 2 Operational Training Unit (OTU) Mildura in December 1943 and was promoted to Corporal in January 1944. Corporal Smith was attached to 548 Squadron at Discharge on 18 December 1945.
John was born in 1913 in Southern Cross in Western Australia, sixth of eight children of Percy Webster Smith (b1873 in Essex, England) and Mary Ann Lawrence Touchell (b1878 in Keilli, South Australia). Percy had arrived in the WA Goldfields by 1901, when he was a Fitter in Kalgoorlie. He and Mary married in 1903 in Boulder, and lived in Kalgoorlie, Narrogin, Southern Cross and Northam where they raised their family and Percy worked as a Miner, Assayer, Stock and Station Agent and Timekeeper. Percy enlisted in the AIF in 1917 (Private; Service No:7138) and following his Discharge, he and Mary settled in Perth, WA. The couple separated in 1921 and Divorced in 1933. Percy worked in Perth as a Traveller, Mortgage Broker and Land Salesman, and in 1946 remarried.
John worked in Wiluna as a Miner, and in Perth as an Electirican and Motor Mechanic. He was in Perth in 1939 when he married Lucy Mary Pearsall (b1916 in Warwickshire, England) - Lucy immigrated in 1923, arriving in Albany, WA on board the Diogenes. John and Lucy settled in Perth where John was working as a Motor Mechanic when he enlisted in the ACMF in 1940, then the RAAF in 1941. Following his Discharge, John and Lucy remained in Perth, where John was a Storekeeper before moving to Scarborough in the early 1960s where he worked as a Contractor. John died in 1981 and Lucy in 2011.
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