Wesley Graham (Wish) DOLBY

DOLBY, Wesley Graham

Service Number: QX58005
Enlisted: 30 October 1943, Brisbane, Queensland
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion
Born: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 13 September 1925
Home Town: Wynnum, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Wynnum Central State School, Queensland, Australia
Occupation: Motor Mechanic
Died: Natural causes (heart attack), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 9 June 2006, aged 80 years
Cemetery: Hemmant Cemetery and Crematorium, Brisbane, Queensland
Grave Location: Monumental C/Section 5/Grave 33; buried with his-Wife: Ethel Phyllis Dolby.
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World War 2 Service

30 Oct 1943: Enlisted Private, QX58005, Brisbane, Queensland
30 Oct 1943: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion
31 Oct 1943: Involvement Private, QX58005
15 Jun 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, embarked Brisbane for Finschafen en route to Morotai
30 Jul 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, embarked Morotai for service at Balikapan
22 Feb 1946: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, embarked Balikapan for Rabaul on board Georgetown Victory
21 Jun 1946: Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, embarked Rabaul for Brisbane on board Canberra
28 Oct 1946: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, QX58005, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion
28 Oct 1946: Discharged Private, QX58005, 2nd/4th Motor Ambulance Convoy

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Wesley Graham Dolby (Service No:QX58005) enlisted in the AIF on 30 October 1943 and was attached to 1 AASC Training Battalion and 3 Motor Transport Training Depot. Private Dolby served in New Guinea and Borneo (Finschafen, Morotai, Balikapan, Rabaul) with General Transport Coys (154 and 148) and Transport Platoons (16 and 52) from 15 June 1945 to 12 June 1946. Private Dolby was attached to 2/4 Australian MAC Platoon at Discharge on 28 October 1946. His father Ernest and siblings Ronald, Colin and Neville also served in WWII.

Wish was born in Brisbane, QLD in 1925, youngest of six children of Ernest Robert Browning Dolby (b1892 in Brisbane, QLD) and Charlotte ELizabeth Churton (b1892 in Sandgate, Brisbane, QLD). Ernest (a Carrier) and Charlotte married in 1914 in Brisbane, where they settled and raised their family and Ernest worked as a Carrier. In 1940 when he enlisted in the ACMF, Ernest and Charlotte were living in Manly, Brisbane - Ernest worked as a Waiter, Salesman and Storeman. Charlotte died in 1956 and Ernest retired to Caloundra in the early 1960s. In 1978 Ernest remarried to Fairries (Fay) Braden Cotter (nee Brown; b1919 in Goondiwindi, QLD).

Wish worked as a Motor Mechanic in Manly before enlisting in the Army, and in 1944 married Ethel Phyllis Christina McShane (b1927 in Brisbane, QLD). Following his Discharge, Wish and Ethel settled in Manly, Brisbane where Wish was a Fruit Vendor. Wish died in 2006 and Ethel in 2010.

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