Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

This is the tale of two people (Leslie and Joyce) born in September of 1914, in different places in Australia, and their legacy.

In Melbourne, during the Second World War, the sister in charge of the orphanage invited the single nurses to take a soldier's name and to write to them to support them in their efforts fighting for our country. Nurse Robena Joyce Luscombe (known as Joyce) was given the name of Leslie Keith Billsborough. They wrote to each other, eventually met and finally married after the war in March, 1946. Leslie served in the 49th Battalion in Australia and New Guinea where he survived the battle of Sanananda which saw so many other soldiers fall.

Les' family owned a property, "Bethacurraba' in the Goondiwindi district and the newly-weds moved there to help with the farm and with Les' mother who was not well. In 1958 they won the ballot for a plot of land in Moonie which they settled in 1959 and named 'Strathmore’. It is still the home property, now (Oct 2014) run by one of their sons, Andy, and his wife, Sue.

Les and Joyce had four children - Geoff, Lauraine, Andrew and David who all now have families of their own.

{ ‘All Because of Pen Pals in WW2!’ by Lynelle Urquhart in "Tara & District Magazine". Issue: Oct 2014; pg 8}