Arthur STEPHENS

STEPHENS, Arthur

Service Number: VX147957
Enlisted: 7 February 1944
Last Rank: Staff Sergeant
Last Unit: Not yet discovered
Born: Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 19 February 1922
Home Town: Ballarat, Central Highlands, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Clerk
Died: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 28 July 1977, aged 55 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

7 Feb 1944: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Staff Sergeant, VX147957

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

Biography contributed by Kim Denyse

He fought in World War 2 after enlisting (again) in Ballarat on 20 May 1942. He was originally not passed as not fit to serve on the 19-9-1941 as he was blind in one eye following an accident as a child (the story is that his brother poked him accidentally with a pin in his eye).

There is an amusing family story that no one knew in the army that he was blind in his eye until he was injured in his good eye (which was bandaged over), and upon walking around fell straight into a trench. Only then did they realize he couldn't see from his other eye.

He married Olive Jean Simpson when he was 22 in Lae, Papua New Guinea where he had served.

They had two sons and three daughters.

He passed away in 1977 following a struggle with depression. Dates for his death are listed as either the 28th July 1977 or the 1st August. He was cremated on the 4th August at The Northern Suburbs Crematorium in Sydney, NSW.

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