Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Aircraftwoman Kathleen Joyce Aldridge (Service No:110587) enlisted in the RAAF on 19 July 1943 and was attached to Air Force HQ when she was Discharged on 8 May 1946.

Born in 1925 in Tallangatta Victoria, Kath was sixth of eleven children of Richard Arthur Aldridge (b1879 in Sussex, England) and Annie Cope (b1895 in Nottinghamshire, England). Richard had worked as an Engine Cleaner before joining the Royal Navy and he and Annie (a Silk Patternmaker in a Lace Warehouse) married in 1915 in Nottinghamshire. Richard (a Cook) was in Sydney NSW when he enlisted in the AIF (Service No:1381) and was Discharged in London in March 1919. By 1920 Richard, Annie and their children were in Melbourne, Victoria where Richard was a Chauffeur. The next year the family moved to Echuca and then Tallangatta where Richard was a Chef.

In 1950 Kath was working in Melbourne as a Stenographer when she married Raymond Thomas Holland (b1924 in Geelong, Victoria) - Ray was working as a Window Dresser and had served in the AIF in WWII. Kath and Ray moved to Newcastle, NSW where they raised their family and Ray worked as a Salesman. Kath died in 1965 and Ray later relocated to Melbourne, Victoria where he died in 1979)