Robert (Barnie) MERCER

MERCER, Robert

Service Numbers: 14435, QX54012, Q266789
Enlisted: 12 June 1943
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)
Born: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 16 June 1924
Home Town: Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 25 March 1993, aged 68 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Warrill Park Lawn Cemetery, Qld
Memorials:
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World War 2 Service

12 Jun 1943: Involvement Private, 14435, also QX54012
12 Jun 1943: Involvement Private, QX54012, also Q266789 & 14435
12 Jun 1943: Involvement Private, Q266789, also QX54012 & 14435
12 Jun 1943: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, 14435, 2nd/12th Infantry Battalion
12 Jun 1943: Enlisted
19 Sep 1946: Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, 14435, 2nd/12th Infantry Battalion
19 Sep 1946: Discharged

Korean War Service

7 Apr 1952: Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Lance Corporal, 14435
7 Apr 1952: Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), Lance Corporal, 14435, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)
24 Mar 1953: Discharged Australian Army (Post WW2), Lance Corporal, 14435, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Barnie was the fifth of eight children of Thomas (Tom) Thomson Mercer (born 1890 in Selkirkshire, Scotland) and Jeanie Allan (born 1894 in Roxburghshire, Scotland). Tom was a Mill Hand when he immigrated in 1910, arriving in Brisbane QLD on board the Owestry Grange. Jeanie arrived with her parents and siblings in Brisbane, QLD in 1911 on board the Paparoa. Tom was a Labourer in Ipswich, QLD when he and Jeanie married in January 1916. Tom served briefly with the AIF in 1918 (Private; Service No:24052) and again in WWII with the ACMF (Private; Service Nos:Q16420/Q89366). Tom and Jeanie settled in Ipswich, QLD where Tom worked as a Storeman before relocating to Sherwood in Brisbane in the late 1930s, where he was a Cook and Baker.

Barnie served with 2/12 Infantry Battalion (Private: Service No:QX54102) from June 1943 to September 1946. In June 1948 he married Mavis Daphne Stringfellow (born 1929 in Cleveland, Brisbane, QLD) and served as a Lance Corporal (Service No:14435) with 1st Infantry Battalion Royal Australian Infantry Corps in Korea from 1952 to 1953.

Barnie and Mavis settled at Canungra in Beaudesert, QLD where Barnie worked as a Labourer before re-enlisting in the Australian Army in the mid 1960s. He and Mavis lived in Rockhampton and Brisbane, before leaving the Army and settling in Booval, Ipswich, QLD in 1980. Barnie died in 1993 and Mavis in 1994.

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