Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas William Hayes (1917 ‒ 2010).
My Mother’s only brother, Thomas (Tom) served in the army during World War II. He was born on Tuesday, 14 August 1917 and died on 20 June 2010.
When the war started, Tom went along with his mates and enlisted at age 24 in Brisbane on 1 August 1941.
They all served on the Kokoda Track and in other parts of New Guinea. His Service Number was QX22635, and he was a Staff Sergeant in the 158 General Transport Company in which he maintained equipment.
One of granny Hayes’ stories was when the Japanese were advancing rapidly on our soldiers in their convoy in Bougainville; our soldiers disabled their trucks before leaving them, by pulling the distributor rotors out of the engines and throwing them into the jungle so the trucks could not be started and used by the Japanese.
Soldiers could not write home and tell their parents or friends where they were, but Tom was able to write that he was in a place with the same name as the shrubs that grew along the fence at home ... or some words along those lines. (Bougainvillea were the plants along the fence). I recall Granny Hayes telling us that a few times. The Nambour Chronicle contained this very short item :
PERSONAL
Corporal T. W. Hayes has returned home on leave from New Guinea. He is with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. Hayes, Montville.

When the noted Australian author Eleanor Dark lived at Montville in the 1950s, she wrote and in 1959 published her last novel, Lantana Lane. Granny (Hayes) had said that one of the characters in the novel was derived from Uncle Tom. We bought a copy of Lantana Lane and confirmed it.
It comes from Eleanor Dark’s description of Joe Hardy who is introduced in the chapter named Till You Come to a Green Ute which is always parked at the turnoff to Lantana Lane from the main road. Joe is described in part as “... a gangling, middle-aged bachelor; ...” and “... his left shoulder is higher than his right ...” The Green Ute would have been Tom’s green Holden FX.
After the war, he came back to Montville and started his own pineapple farm. This is where he met his future wife, Jill Kennedy who was a teacher at Hunchy State School. They had one daughter, Leith.