Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Enlistment and Militia service

Theodore Wilfred Materne was medically examined and enlisted into the part-time Militia on 23 September 1940 at Eudunda. Assessed as fully fit, he gave his correct date of birth of 4 March 1920; he was 20 years and 6 months old. Single, he gave his religion as Lutheran, his employer as his father, Oscar Friedrich Materne, and his occupation as farmer.

He was allocated the army number S9374 and was posted to the 18th Machine Gun Regiment, possibly because it was noted at enlistment that he could drive a motor vehicle. He requested that he not be called up for continuous training until after the pending harvest, so completed only half a day of duty prior to commencing continuous training on 23 January 1941. During this training he was promoted to lance corporal on 27 February, and completed the 90 days of continuous training on 24 April. His file is stamped "reserved", indicating that as a farmer he was in one of the "reserved" occupations. In July he was transferred to the Clare administrative district (Area 27), and but there are no discharge details on his file. He appears to have returned to farming as a civilian sometime after July 1941.    

On 20 September 1943, Theodore (known as Ted), enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force at No. 5 Recruiting Centre under number 141228, with the same date of birth, again gave his father as next of kin, and his occupation as share farmer.

Ted was given the rank of aircraftman first class and mustered as a trainee technical. He attended No. 167 Recruit Drill Course at No. 5 Recruit Depot at Rocklands Dam near the Grampians in south west Victoria between 21 September and 22 October, and was then posted to No. 4 School of Technical Training in Adelaide at the end of October. He was given seasonal leave without pay to go home to help with the harvest between 3 December and 21 January 1944, after which he attended No. 335 Trainee Technical Fitter Course. This was followed by transfer to No. 1 Engineering School at Ascot Vale, Victoria, where he completed the No. 362 Trainee Flight Rigger Course between 20 March and 10 June.

At the conclusion of this last course Ted was remustered as a flight rigger. Flight riggers were responsible for the aircraft airframe, including repairs, and for refuelling. He was then transferred to No. 3 Air Observer School at Port Pirie, SA, where he was employed as a flight rigger until mid-November, when he again went on seasonal leave without pay to help out on the farm at Eudunda. Just prior to this Ted was promoted to leading aircraftman.

Ted returned from leave without pay in mid-January 1945 and reported to No. 2 Personnel Depot at Bradfield Park in Sydney, before travelling to No. 1 Reserve Personnel Pool in Townsville. After a period of acclimitisation to the tropics and issue of equipment, Ted embarked for Morotai in the Dutch East Indies on 3 April 1945, disembarking there on 13 April, when he joined No. 30 Squadron RAAF.

No. 30 Squadron was equipped with Bristol Beaufighters, a British-made twin-engined multi-role aircraft which was armed with a cannon in the nose in addition to machine guns, and could also be armed with rockets and bombs. The squadron mainly attacked Japanese shipping and coastal bases. The squadron was part of the Australian First Tactical Air Force, and had moved to Morotai in November 1944, carrying out operations in the Celebes Sea, and the islands of Ambon, Ceram and Halmahera. On one occasion, two of the squadron aircraft were destroyed, and eight damaged in a Japanese air raid. The squadron supported operations in Borneo and in May moved to Tarakan where it supported the landing at Balikpapan.

The squadron returned to Australia aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory in December 1945. During the war, the 68 squadron members died on active service. Ted was transferred to No. 4 Personnel Depot at Springbank, SA, on 17 December, and was discharged on 2 January 1946.