Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lesley Richter was born at Booleroo Centre 16 September 1916, son of John Frederick August and Mary Gertrude (nee O’loughlan) Richter. Frederick initially managed the blacksmiths shop at Willowie owned by Mr. Hinton, of Booleroo Whim, before becoming a ‘mobile smith’.

Leslie served with the Militia as part of the 48th Battalion for a period of three months, and had also applied for entry into the RAAF as pilot/air crew in October 1941. He failed to qualify, his application suggesting he was however, suitable for service as ground staff.

He finally reported for duty 1 March 1943 at No. 5 Recruitment Centre, Adelaide. He listed his trade qualifications as ‘Mechanic and Pipe Fitter’ having worked at a Motor Garage at Barmera, and also listed some experience in tractor and truck driving as well as oxy welding/pipe fitting with the South Australian Railways. He was 26 years old.

Leslie was subsequently allocated to No. 1 Recruitment Depot at Shepparton, Victoria, where he was based for three months, and mustered as Driver Motor Transport. On 6 April 1943 he was transferred to 3 RAAF Postal Unit at Melbourne, and then entrained to Sydney on August 15 where he attended 3 School of Technical Training at Ultimo. It was whilst he was stationed here that he had his only misconduct recorded – ‘wilfully injured stairways and bannister leading to the top floor. Total cost of replacement being six pounds’ for which he received 72 hours detention.

17 March 1944 Leslie was transferred to the newly formed 18 Repair and Salvage Unit at Mount Druitt, a suburb on the western side of Sydney, before moving to Pell Airfield in the Northern Territory on the 28th of April. The airfield, built in 1942, acted as an aircraft salvage, repair and servicing facility.

Probably prior to embarkation in 1945 Les married Mary Isobelle Strachan in Sydney – the exact date of his marriage is not known. Mary was a nurse. Les’s records show her address after marriage as Nepean District Hospital at Penrith and later as Parkwynd Hospital on East Terrace in Adelaide.

He embarked at Darwin on 2 April 1945 for service in New Britain, disembarking at Jacquinot Bay, a wide harbour located on the southern coast. This base was used to support Australian operations near Rabaul, and was home to two squadrons of Corsair fighters from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He was then moved to Morotai, a small island in the Dutch East Indies, 21 July 1945, then to Balikpapan a month later where he remained until the cessation of hostilities in October 1945.

Returning to Australia, Leslie disembarked on the 5th of November 1945, and was officially discharged from the RAAF on the 8th of March 1946.

Little is known of his movements after the war. He may have returned to Willowie for a short period following his discharge. He attended the RSL dinner in Cowell in 1947 and his wife was a Sister at the Cowell Hospital. They had one child, a daughter. He was a keen local fisherman and had a small holding of land in the district.  

At the time of publication there is no record of his actual death date. He was still on the electoral roll in 2002. While they cannot remember the exact year, friends recall spreading his ashes on Franklin Harbour sometime later as a tribute to his love of fishing.

Excerpt taken from "Diggers From the Dust" (2018) Di Barrie & Andrew Barrie.