Charlie HOLLAND

HOLLAND, Charlie

Service Number: QX6508
Enlisted: 5 November 1939
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 2 Base Ordnance Depot
Born: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 24 January 1904
Home Town: Redbank Plains, Ipswich, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Cook
Died: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 August 1980, aged 76 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Warrill Park Lawn Cemetery, Qld
Memorials: Queensland Garden of Remembrance (Pinnaroo), Qld
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World War 2 Service

5 Nov 1939: Involvement Corporal, QX6508
5 Nov 1939: Enlisted
5 Nov 1939: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX6508
5 Jun 1940: Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX6508, embarked Sydney for Gourock, Scotland
3 Jan 1941: Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX6508, 2nd/31st Infantry Battalion, embarked Gourock, Scotland for Middle East per HMT J19
28 May 1942: Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX6508, 2 Base Ordnance Depot, embarked Suez per SS Andes for RTA
21 Sep 1943: Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, QX6508
21 Sep 1943: Discharged

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Charlie was the eldest of six children of Charles Edward Holland (b1875 in Lancashire, England) and Josephina Gardner (b1877 in Redbank Plains, Ipswich, QLD). Charles Snr arrived in Brisbane QLD in 1883 on board the Duntrune, and settled with his parents and siblings at Bundamba, Ipswich, QLD. Charles Snr (a Drayman) and Josephina (an accomplished Equestrienne) married in 1898 in Bundamba, Ipswich. They lived at Redbank Plains (initially in a tent) where they ran a mixed business and Charles Snr also was a Miner. Charles Snr was involved with the Ipswich Ambulance Brigade and was a foundation member of the Mines Rescue Brigade. In the mid 1920s they moved to Goomeri where Charles Snr was in charge of the Ambulance and Josephina travelled with him, assisting with maternity cases. Following Josephina's death in 1929, Charles Snr moved to Brisbane where he remarried and worked as a Storeman.

Charlie worked as an Ambulance Bearer in Redbank Plains, Ipswich and in 1919 married Helen Gladys Mensforth (b1898 in Ipswich, QLD). Charlie and Helen settled at Redbank Plains, where Charlie was a Cook when he enlisted in the Australian Army in October 1939. He served with 2/9 and 2/31 Battalions and was a Corporal (Service No:QX6508) attached to 2 Central Ordnance Depot when he was Discharged in September 1943. Brother-in-Law John Robert Roughead (Private; Service No:Q151777), son Charles John (Corporal; Service No:QX1327) and Son-in-Law Geoffrey Harrison Bishop (Trooper; Service Nos:QX49737/Q148086) also served in WWII.

Charlie and Helen were Divorced, and in 1952 Charlie married Ethel Ruth Johns (b1921 in Warragul, Victoria) in Melbourne. Ethel (a Hairdresser) and Charlie settled in the Gippsland Region in Victoria (Yarram and Sale) where Charlie worked as a Carpenter. In the late 1970s they relocated to QLD where Charlie died in 1980 and Ethel in 2006. 

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