Franklin Keith (Frank) ELDER

Franklin Keith (Frank) ELDER Update Details

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ELDER, Franklin Keith

Service Number:	115042
Enlisted:	16 July 1942
Last Rank:	Corporal
Last Unit:	Not yet discovered
Born:	Torrensville, Adelaide, South Australia, 26 April 1923
Home Town:	Richmond (SA), City of West Torrens, South Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Junior Mechanic (Coil Winder)
Died:	McLaren Vale, Adelaide, South Australia, 25 April 2011, aged 87 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

16 Jul 1942:	Involvement Corporal, 115042
16 Jul 1942:	Enlisted Adelaide
16 Jul 1942:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 115042
30 Jan 1946:	Discharged

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

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Corporal Franklin Keith Elder (Service No:115042) enlisted in the RAAF at No 5 Recruiting Centre Adelaide on 16 July 1942 as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Wireless Mechanic, re mustered as Radar Mechanic. ACI Elder was described in his Attestation Papers as 'Tall, well built, neat appearance, respectful, intelligent. Suitable type (NAA). Promoted to Leading Aircraftman then Corporal, he served with 150 and 44 Radar Direction Finding (RDF) Stations and 105 Fighter Control Unit (FCU). Corporal Elder was attached to Air Defence HQ Brisbane at Discharge on 30 January 1946.

Born in Torrensville, Adelaide, South Australia in 1923, Frank was youngest of two children of James Elder (b1880 in Adelaide, South Australia) and his second wife Gertrude Elizabeth Louise Marker (b1888 in Palmerston, Northern Territory). James was a Labourer (and Widower with three surviving children) in 1916 when he and Gertrude married in Adelaide. Frank had worked as a Miner in Burra before enlisting in the AIF (Private; Service No:4416). James and Gertude settled in Adelaide, where they raised their family and James worked as a Labourer and Cleaner.

Frank started work in 1938 with Harrisons Ramsay Pth Ltd in Adelaide as a Junior Clerk, and was a Junior Mechanic (Coil Winding) with the Postmaster General's Department in 1942 when he enlisted in the RAAF. Following his Discharge, Frank worked in Adelaide for the Postmaster General's Department as a Telephone Technician, and in 1948 married Rae Ward (b1925 in Hindmarsh, South Australia. Frank died in 2011 and Rae in 2018.

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