Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daniel John Tucker (JACK) SX 18518 (and SX 15808)

Daniel John TUCKER (Jack) was the son of Clarence (Clarrie) Gordon TUCKER and Ida Lydia WATTERS (93A/555).[1] He was born in Currumulka, South Australia on 31 March 2022. Jack was a Methodist.

Jack was one of five children born to Clarence and Ida. He had a sister Leila Grace (born 16 March 1917 in Currumulka), a brother Riland Gordon (born 6 June 1919 in Currumulka), a sister Doris Mabel (born 30 August 1920 in Currumulka), and a brother Keith Clarence (born 1 September 1925 in Currumulka).

At the time of his enlistment in the AIF at Wayville, South Australia, Army Ordnance Corps, on 19 May 1942, Private Jack was a single man working as a clerk and living at 34 Marion Street, Unley, Adelaide, SA. He was 20 years and 1 month old. Jack had a fair complexion, green eyes, and brown hair. He was five feet seven inches tall.

Jack may have served in Darwin from 22 March 1944 to 9 October 1944. At discharge, Jack was 23 and single. He sustained a fracture of the odontoid process, 2nd cervical vertebrae, whilst on leave in Newcastle in 1945. An investigation did not reveal whether the injury was due to ‘neglect, misconduct, carelessness or failure to observe any act, regulation, order, or instruction on the part of the member.’

In younger people, these sorts of injuries are typically caused by high energy trauma in some form of misadventure. [2]

On 22 December 1951, Jack married Audrey THOMSPON at the Methodist Church, Stansbury, a small seaside town about 31 kilometres from Currumulka. They had three sons Richard, Graeme and Grant.

A letter dated 11 November 1971 from the Queensland Public Curator’s Office noted a Daniel John TUCKER had died in Toowoomba on 10 April 1971. On 7 March 1972, WJA McCAUSLAND, Colonel, OIC of the Central Army Records Office in Albert Park Barracks wrote to the Public Curator to (wrongly) advise that ‘records held at this office contain no information of a Daniel John Tucker having served in the Australian Army.’

Our Daniel John TUCKER was still alive at this time, with records suggesting he died at Currumulka on 5 May 1994.

Jack’s uncle was Riland Melville TUCKER, the son of Daniel TUCKER and Elizabeth Jane GREGOR. Riland was born in Currumulka on 4 October 1892. Riland was killed in action on 16 October 1917.

[1] Clarence was the son of Daniel TUCKER and Ida was the daughter of John WATTERS. Clarence (28) and Ida (27) married on 20 March 1917 in Currumulka at Ida’s home.
[2] The mechanism of injury for these injuries, sometimes called a hangman’s fracture, is a forced hyperextension of the head with distraction of the neck. This occurs when the nose is placed under the subject's chin such as in the case of a judicial hanging. The more common mechanism of action is hyperextension and axial loading. These injuries are most commonly seen in motor vehicle accidents, diving injuries, or contact sports. Hangman’s fractures also occur in car accidents when an unrestrained passenger or driver strikes the dashboard or when rebound hyperextension en distraction of the neck: Physipedia.