Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ken married Violet Amelia Plummer at Wagga NSW in the early 1920s. They had three children - Nell, Nola and Bill. I understand he met my mother who lived on a farm at nearby Marrar when she visited the post office a Wagga one day. As she left he said to another clerk "who is that girl". She heard, popped her head back in the door and replied "my name is Vi Plummer. " And their fate was sealed.

As a postal and later postmaster the family travelled or moved every three years. In those days Ken was also a Morse code specialist and also telegraphist from his post office days - sending telegrams.

Ken was postmaster at Adelong in 1940 then a suburb of Sydney and finally Leura in the Blue Mountains. He loved the outdoors and shooting, mostly with .22 rifles including a Remington and Browning. Mostly foxes and rabbits.
He had been raised near Trangie NSW and was at Bathurst post office when he enlisted in World War I.

Ken never fully recovered from WWI and had bad nerves and health. At one stage in the Middle East he had his appendix taken out in a tent in a middle of a sandstorm by a Harley Street (English) specialist.

He also slept in swamps with only his saddle as a pillow to keep their head above the water. This may have been around Iraq which in those days was Mesopotamia (land between the rivers).

On returning home from war Ken's hands often shook when taking cups of tea and he had constant night mares which necessitated he and his wife sleeping in separate beds.

Ken also enlisted in WWII as most postmasters did but was not required to leave his premises and place of work. Both his daughters, Nola and Nell, served in the army in World War II. His son Bill did National Service in the 1950s.

In late 1945 Ken was having trouble with aching teeth while based at Leura NSW. Apparently when the local dentist went to remove a few he found infection in the gums. Osteomyelitis I think as an infection in the jaw.

It is possible that that tried to treat him with the wonder drug then penicillin which I am assured would have cured the condition. Not believing such a miracle drug was possible my father told me he failed to take them, put them in flower pots etc., and consequently died. How sad.

Ken is buried at Katoomba cemetery. There a plans for a new grave marker in the near future.

The writer is Nola's eldest son, Robert Kendall Piper, a Canberra based military and aviation historian for 40 years. It is a privilege to be able to submit the story and photo of a fine man.