Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sergeant Ralph Wilton Peterson (Service Nos:S36514/SX24296) first served in the Militia (Private; Service No:306622) with 43/48th Battalion (21 February 1939 to 1 August 1940) before enlisting in the ACMF on 14 December 1941. Private Peterson served with 109 Australian General Hospital and was a Bombardier attached to 48 Australian Field Battery on 25 July 1942 when he enlisted in the AIF. Bombardier Peterson was attached to 13 Field Regiment on 31 March 1943 when he embarked with his Unit from Cairns for Port Moresby on board the Duntroon. On 9 November 1943 he was a Corporal attached to 50/50 Australian Army Show when he embarked from Port Moresby for Cairns, and served with 1 Australian Broadcasting Conntol Unit and Australian Entertainment Unit. Sergeant Peterson was attached to 50/50 Australian Army Show at Discharge on 22 March 1946.

Ralph was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1921, only son of Ralph Allen Peterson (b1897 in Stirling, Adelaide Hills, South Australia) and Daphne Gwynneth Mary Coulter (b1896 in Mt Magnet, Western Australia). Ralph Snr and Daphne married in 1920 in Adelaide, where they settled and raised their family and Ralph Snr was a Typewriter and Adding Machine Mechanic. Ralph Snr served in WWII, and was Owner/Director of Adelaide Typewriter Co.

Ralph was a Child Actor, and was fourteen when he started work as a Cadet Journalist with the Adelaide Advertiser. In 1942 he was an Announcer in Sydney with Radio 2UE and, following his Discharge from the Army, was in Sydney in 1946 when he married Betty Helen Lucas (b1924 in Coogee, Sydney, New South Wales). Betty - an Acterss - and Ralph met working at Sydney's Metropolitan Theatre. Ralph was a succesfull Playwright, Actor, Writer and Film, Television and Theatre Director and Producer, and Betty a succesful Character Actor and Film Director. In 1951 Ralph and Betty moved to London, where Ralph worked for the British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) and wrote and produced scripts for theatre, and Betty worked as an Actress. By 1954 Ralph and Betty had settled in Sydney NSW, where they pursued succesful Theatre, Film and Television careers. In 1972 Ralph received the Australian Writers' Guild Award for the TV script of Dad and Dave, and in 1989 the Writers' Guild Award for services to Comedy Writing. Ralph diied in 1996 and Betty in 2015.