BLAND, Arthur George
| Service Number: | SX7751 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 July 1940, Wayville, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/48th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Renmark, South Australia, 13 August 1912 |
| Home Town: | Glossop, Berri and Barmera, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Natural causes, South Australia, 3 June 1987, aged 74 years |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia Cremated but ashes not interred in this location |
| Memorials: | Berri Oval "Diver" Derrick VC Memorial Grandstand & Roll of Honour |
World War 2 Service
| 4 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Private, SX7751, Wayville, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, SX7751 | |
| 5 Jul 1940: | Involvement Private, SX7751 | |
| 6 Mar 1943: | Discharged Private, SX7751, 2nd/48th Infantry Battalion | |
| 6 Mar 1943: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, SX7751 | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
Arthur Bland Service
Arthur Bland was my Great Uncle. He left behind a wife for war. He returned a cripple and a shell of a man at the time. She reportedly left him soon after. It left him nearly as broken as his time as a Rat of Tobruk. He never married, but was cared for for the remaining years of his life by Ruth who we only knew as Aunty Ruth. She took good care of Uncle Art. Much of his life in Adelaide after the war was spent in and out of the Repat hospital in Daw Park. The anecdote from His Sister Mary (our Nan) is that he had in excess of 40 surgeries over many years and each operation saw the removal of at least one piece of shrapnel. When I was a young child we would visit he wouldn't say much, but each time we had to bring flowers.
His catch cry was "bring me flowers now. I won't be able to see 'em if they're on my grave."
Submitted 24 April 2016 by Danny Talbot
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