Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer I (Service No:N65905) enlisted as a Corporal in the ACMF on 2 January 1940 and on 30 Novemberr 1942 was promoted to Warrant Officer I. WO Cohen was attached to District Accounts Office NSW when he was Discharged on 20 June 1945. He had served in the AIF WWI (Service No:3025), and sibling Arthur also served in WWI (Service No:418).

Born in 1890 in Sydney NSW, Bernard was the fifth of six children of Maurice (Moses) Abraham Cohen (b1851 in the Ukraine) and Deborah Grouse (b1850 in Poland). Moses had gone to England to complete his education at Jews' College London, and worked as a Teacher before travelling to India where he was Headmaster at the Sassoon School in Bombay while undertaking a Degree at Bombay University. He then served as personal translator for General Roberts (Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo Afghan War). Moses was in London in 1883 when he and Deborah married at the Central Synagogue in Marylebone. In 1887 Moses and Deborah emigrated with their children to Sydney NSW where Moses was Headmaster of the Jewish Sunday School, Head of the NSW Jewish Board of Education and lecturer in Hebrew. Moses was also editor of the first weekly Jewish newspaper and was regarded world wide as an expert in Urdu - he was fluent in, and taught, a number of languages.

In 1912 in Sydney NSW, Bernard married Lillia (Lal) Harriet Green (b1888 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria). Bernard and Lal lived in Melbourne, where Bernard was a Travelling Salesman/Commercial Traveller and Superintendent before moving to Sydney NSW in the late 1930s. Bernard was a Clerk, and following his service with the ACMF, he and Lal settled in Brisbane QLD. Bernard died in 1952 and Lal in 1980.