HARDIE, Charles
| Service Number: | QX26629 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 January 1942 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company |
| Born: | Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 8 August 1908 |
| Home Town: | Ipswich, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Engine Driver |
| Died: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 29 January 1980, aged 71 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 5 Jan 1942: | Involvement QX26629 | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jan 1942: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX26629 | |
| 5 Jan 1942: | Enlisted | |
| 8 Jul 1943: | Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Corporal, QX26629, 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company, per K for Port Moresby | |
| 1 Apr 1944: | Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Corporal, QX26629, 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company, ex Port Moresby per Gorgon for Sydney | |
| 18 Apr 1945: | Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Corporal, QX26629, 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company, ex Cairns per Carlos Carillo for Morotai | |
| 20 Jun 1945: | Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Corporal, QX26629, 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company, ex Morotai per Westralia for Tarakan | |
| 12 Dec 1945: | Embarked Australian Army (Post WW2), Corporal, QX26629, 2nd/1st Docks Operating Company, ex Tarakan per HMS Glory for Sydney | |
| 20 Dec 1945: | Discharged | |
| 20 Dec 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX26629 |
Charles Hardie
Charles (Chas) Hardie (8 August 1908 • Ipswich, QLD - 29 January 1980 • Brisbane, QLD) was the 5th of 10 children of George E Hardie and Joan Rankin Kitching of Ipswich QLD. Charles grew up in Ipswich, part of a large and loving family. He was a keen soccer player (playing in the Premierships as Captain of Rosebells Football [Soccer] Club, Ipswich QLD), and enjoyed bicycle racing and cricket, and fishing. He was ‘a fine figure of a man’, tall, broad shouldered and strong, with thick black hair and brown eyes. He was always cheerful and optimistic, with a wide welcoming smile and a crazy sense of humour. Chas had a very strong work ethic, and told stories about the Depression years in Ipswich when times were desperate for everyone. He earned a penny a day and a packet of meat from the Council for shovelling a pile of dirt from one side of the road to the other. The next day, he earned the same amount for shovelling that same dirt back. Although Pop said those years were ‘hard on a man’, I didn’t hear him complain – he said he was grateful he could work at anything to help put food on the table in those days.
He would never talk about his years in the War, other than to say he was in Darwin when it ‘was bombed by the Japs’, and in Tarakan and New Guinea. He had some Army books – ‘At Ease’, ‘Khaki and Green’ I think they were – written by soldiers for soldiers during the War. I always enjoyed reading them – articles, funny stories, drawings.
Chas served with the Australian Army from 5 January 1942 - 20 December 1945 • with 2/10 Australia Port Operations Company as a Corporal (Service No: QX26629) New Guinea (Kokoda), Sandakan. He brought some beautiful shells back from Sandakan, and brooches and other items made from pearl shell and spent bullets and mortars.
Following his return from WWII, Chas was employed on the Railways, initially as a Boiler Attendant, and then as a Train Driver
Chas enlisted
Submitted 19 December 2019 by Chris Buckley
Biography contributed by Chris Buckley
Chas was the fifth of ten children of George Hardie (born 1871 in Scotland) and Joan Rankin Kitching (born 1879 in Scotland). George was eight years of age when his family immigrated to South Australia, and Joan was three years of age when her family arrived in Maryborough, QLD. George - an Engine Driver - and Joan married in 1899 in Howard, Wide Bay, QLD and moved to Ipswich where their children were raised.
Chas started working as a Coal Miner in Ipswich, QLD where he was involved in various sporting activities, including cycling, cricket, fishing and Soccer - he was Captain of the Rosebells Football (Soccer) Club in 1928 and 1929. Chas related how, during the Depression years he earned 'a penny a day and a packet of meat from the Council for shovelling a pile of dirt from one side of the road to the other - the next day we'd shovel it back'.
In April 1929 Chas married Esther Bridget Molloy (born 1912 at Newtown in Ipswich, QLD) and had two daughters. In January 1942 Chas enlisted with the Australian Army, serving with 2/1 Docks Op Coy and 2/10 Port Op Coy as a Corporal (Service No:QX26629) in Darwin, New Guinea, Morotai and Tarakan. He was hospitalised with Dengue. and was Discharged in December 1945. Brothers - Alexander (CMF, Private; Service No:N154070), Walter (Private, Service No:Q46345) and Douglas (Signalman, Service No:QX12515) - and Brother - in -Law Private Eric Roach (Service Nos:QX45043/Q108028) also served in WWII.
Chas returned to Ipswich and worked as a Boiler Attendant. He and Esther divorced in 1946 and both remarried - Chas to Dorothy (Doss) Isobel Watt (born 1905 at West Burleigh in QLD). Doss had been a Salvation Army Missionary, carer for an aged relative and a Dressmaker. Chas and Doss built a home at Oxley in Brisbane, QLD and settled there, having a daughter together. Chas worked as an Engineman (Train Driver) - he would let his grandchildren know what train he would be driving on the Brisbane/Ipswich line and they would wait at the Taringa Bridge for him to blow the train whistle. Chas died in 1980 and Doss in 1983.
Click images to start slideshow.