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Son of Robert and Edith Peters; husband of Daisy Peters, of North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

DEARLY LOVED AND SADLY MISSED BY LOVING WIFE AND FAMILY

Private Peters was born on the Cummeragunja Reserve near Echuca on 17 February 1901 to Robert and Edith Peters.
In 1924 he married Daisy Davis and started a family with her in his hometown of Healesville where she had been born at Coranderrk Reserve.
Vincent was a popular and talented footballer in Healesville where he worked as a labourer before he enlisted in the Australian Army in June 1940 at 39 years of age.
He joined the 2/2 Pioneers Battalion and his wife Daisy and children Harry, Dot, Beryl, Glenn and infant Eric saw him off at Spencer Street Railway station before he travelled to Sydney to embark for service overseas on 7 April 1941
He arrived in the Middle East on 21 May. He served with the 2/2 Pioneers throughout 1941 where they were deployed to Syria until the surrender of the German allied Vichy French.
Private Peters and the 2/2 Pioneers remained in the Middle East until the entry of Japan into the Second World War when they were ordered to return to Australia.
They departed on the troop ship Orcades arriving in Sumatra two days after the fall of nearby Singapore. They sailed on to Batavia in Java where the decision was made to await the arrival of Japanese who were sweeping through the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
The Japanese landed on Java on 28 February. The 2/2 Pioneers and Private Peters faced a hopeless task. They engaged the Japanese on 4 March but were soon ordered to lay down their arms following the surrender of the Dutch on 8 March.
Private Peters was one of 865 officers and men from the 2/2 Pioneers to survive the fighting and be taken as Prisoners of War.
In August 1942 the news reached Healesville where it was reported in the local newspaper that "One of Healesville's most popular footballers has been reported missing, believed prisoner of war. He is Private Vince Peters, who enlisted some months ago, and has a son, Harry, in the fighting forces. It is hoped that news will be heard of Vince in the near future."
The survivors of 2/2 Pioneer Battalion, including Private Peters, were sent initially to Singapore and then on to Moulmein Burma to work on the Thai Burma railway.
He was permitted to send Japanese supplied postcards home during his captivity which said that he was fit and well. The reality was very different, disease and starvation commonplace amongst the prisoners working on the railway.
Private Peters remained a prisoner until 11 December 1943 when he died after contracting Malaria.
He was buried at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (now Myanmar).
His son Harry survived the war and returned to Australia where he died in 1995.
In 2006 his daughter Dot Peters approached the Healesville RSL about working together on reconciliation. In partnership with Healesville RSL, they held the first service acknowledging Aboriginal military service.
That service became an annual event and this year the 20th Aboriginal Remembrance Service was held at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. - RSL Victoria (www.facebook.com)