Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Our home in Prospect in Adelaide was an unofficial “drop-in centre” during the war, and Raymond Hartley (“Ray”) Couzner, was one of the many soldiers who passed through the place in those times, although I can’t remember how he was connected, maybe came with a mate, maybe a country friend of a friend of a relative. It’s just how it seemed to work back then.
Ray was born on 22nd October 1920, in Jamestown in South Australia’s mid north sheep wheat country, the youngest son of Stephen George and Edith Sylvia (nee Braddock) Couzner, although sadly his mother passed away when Ray was only 13.
Ray grew up in Jamestown and worked as a farm labourer, but with war looming, he served in the part time militia until June 1940 when, aged 19, he enlisted (SX 4235) in the AIF at Wayville in Adelaide, and did his basic training at Woodside. (No less than nine Couzners from Jamestown – cousins mostly - enlisted in WW II, all about the same time.)
In September 1940 Ray was assigned to the 2/27th Battalion, and after pre-embarkation leave, in October they were entrained to Melbourne, and boarded the “Mauretania” for the Middle East, disembarking in Egypt in late November and “...moved straight to Palestine to complete their training.”
The Battalion’s “...first operational assignment was to bolster the defences along the Egypt-Libya frontier against an expected German attack, occupying positions at Maaten Bagush and Matruh throughout much of April and May 1941, before returning to Palestine in preparation for its first offensive operation - the invasion of Syria and Lebanon, which began on 8 June 1941.”
The battalion “...was employed in the drive north along the Lebanon coast but most of its operations were outflanking moves in the hills that edged the coastal plain. Its major actions were at Adloun on 11 June, Miyeoumiye on 13-14 June and around El Boum, as part of the battle of Damour, between 6 and 9 July, then remained in Lebanon as part of the Allied garrison until 11 January 1942.”
Ray and the rest of the 2/27th headed home in late January 1942, disembarking in Fremantle, (where Ray organised a little unofficial absence!), before arriving in Adelaide for some formal Home Leave.
The battalion was then assigned to the NG campaign, disembarking in mid August 1942 at Port Moresby, and “...by 6 September it was in position at Mission Ridge on the Kokoda Trail preparing to meet the relentless advance of the Japanese. The battalion held on to its positions for two days before being forced to pull out by a Japanese outflanking move that cut the Trail behind it. A grim two week withdrawal through the jungle with little food followed. Sick and exhausted, the 2/27th rejoined the main Australian force at Jawarere, 40 kilometres east of Port Moresby, on 22 September 1942.”
After a period of rest and retraining the 2/27th returned to action at Gona on 28 November 1942, suffering heavily in a series of “rushed and ill-conceived attacks and was further assailed by the ravages of tropical disease.”
By the time it was relieved on 6 January 1943, it was only 70 strong, sailing in mid-January on the “Jason Lee” to Townsville, where Ray was soon admitted to hospital with malaria, not rejoining his unit until early June 1943.
Early August 1943 saw the battalion back in Papua, where they spent a month training near Port Moresby before being flown to Kaipit in New Guinea to take part in the advance along the Ramu Valley. But Ray’s malaria flared up again, and he was pulled out of active service and later assigned to “...certain duties which require only a restricted medical fitness.”
After campaigns in the Middle East and New Guinea, Ray’s fighting was finished and he was never really a well man again (coming down with Bells Palsy in time), and after another short spell of “unofficial leave” in mid February 1944 he was shipped back to Qld, was in and out of hospital before returning to SA in late May 1944, with more hospital with eye troubles and recurring malaria, then “...assigned to duties in the Officers Mess”.
On 24th of November 1944 Ray married Aircraftwoman Elaine Winifred Feder (S/n 111625) in the Methodist Church in Moonta, where her parents lived. Elaine was born in Maitland SA in Jan 1924, the eldest daughter of Mr & Mrs N J Feder, and had enlisted in Adelaide in the RAAF in November 1943.
Elaine left the RAAF after her marriage, and went to live in Moonta where she set up home for a while, Ray being discharged in Sept 1945, after over 1800 days service, 872 of them overseas.
After some time in Moonta, they went on to have five children, and lived in the Centennial Park temporary homes for a while, Ray working as a postman and a prison guard amongst other things.
Ray and Elaine retired to Pt Lincoln, Ray passing away there in 1993, while Elaine lived on until 2012, passing away aged 88. They are buried together in the RSL section of the Port Lincoln cemetery.