THOMSON, Lyndley James
| Service Number: | SX33358 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 January 1944, Wayville, SA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Maylands, South Australia, Australia, 7 October 1925 |
| Home Town: | Kensington Park, Burnside, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Radio Mechanic |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 10 Jan 1944: | Involvement Signalman, SX33358 | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Jan 1944: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, SX33358, Wayville, SA | |
| 28 Aug 1946: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, SX33358 |
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Son of Adeline Blanche Louise THOMSON, 3 Lamond Avenue, Kensington Park, South Australia.
Lyndley is a veteran of the Second World War. Before his war service, Lyndley was a process worker in the radio trade. He enlisted in the Australian Army on 10 January 1944 and was sent to Cowra, NSW, for a 2-month recruit training course. Lyndley was then posted to the Signals Training Battalion at Bonegilla, Victoria, followed by linesman training in Melbourne. After this, Lyndley was sent to Sydney for a cable jointers course and then to a telephone mechanics training school in Brisbane. In November 1944, Lyndley was posted to the 4th Australian Line Maintenance Section, which had the role of maintaining and repairing communication cables and equipment.
In April 1945, Lyndley left Australia on the American Liberty Ship Morgan Robertson, sailing to the Allied base at Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). After 3 months, Lyndley sailed on the Landing Ship LST638 to Tarakan Island off Borneo and then to Balikpapan, Borneo, maintaining communications lines for the forces deployed there. After the war’s end in August, Lyndley also served in two other signals units that serviced communication lines.
Lyndley returned to Australia in January 1946 and was discharged on 28 August that year. Lyndley says that his signals training was very helpful in finding employment after leaving the Army. He became a telephone technician with the Postmaster-General’s Department (which later became Telecom, then Telstra).
In 1987, Lyndley married Joan and they had a lovely life together before she sadly died in 2020.
In his spare time, Lyndley enjoyed problem solving and tinkering with anything electrical and radio related. He also liked boating, caravanning and four-wheel driving. Lyndley now enjoys living in the retirement village, going to church, walking, and catching up with family and friends.
Lyndley credits his longevity to the ‘good heart specialists who gave me an angioplasty in 1990, two stents in 2000 and a triple bypass in 2023’.
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