ARNEL, Leslie Boulden
| Service Number: | V57965 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 July 1940, Enlisted at Mt Martha, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 39 Infantry Battalion AMF |
| Born: | Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 10 December 1920 |
| Home Town: | Stawell, Northern Grampians, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Draper |
| Died: | Highercombe Nursing Home, South Australia, Australia, 19 October 2019, aged 98 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 4 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Corporal, V57965, 39th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Mt Martha, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, V57965, 39 Infantry Battalion AMF | |
| 15 Nov 1945: | Discharged Corporal, V57965, 39th Infantry Battalion | |
| 15 Nov 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, V57965, 39 Infantry Battalion AMF | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement Corporal, V57965, 39th Infantry Battalion |
Farewell to an Original Kokoda Hero
ONE of the First Australians to confront the marauding Japanese as they advanced down the Kokoda Track in World War II has died in an Adelaide nursing home.
Les Arnel, 95, was one of just 12 remaining members of the famous 39th Battalion, the first to confront the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in July 1942, before he died at Highercombe Residential Care centre in Hope Valley on Saturday.
Mr Arnel’s daughter Cheryl Doherty said he was a kind and caring man who “just loved people”.
“He was very caring and made lots of acquaintances through talking about his war years,” Mrs Doherty said. “He was also involved in singing and lots of activities in the nursing home – he literally just loved people.”
The 39th Battalion is famous in Australian military folklore for being a rag-tag group of undertrained and undermanned men who delayed the Japanese advance along the Kokoda Track for critical days before reinforcements arrived at the Battle of Isurava. Mr Arnel was just 17 when he lobbed in Port Moresby in 1942.
He had lied about his age to get into the army.
He put up his hand to be a member of the first group of volunteers to traverse the Kokoda Track – the first white men to do so – in early July 1942, to confront the ravaging Japanese . Born in Ballarat and raised in Stawell, both in Victoria , Mr Arnel moved to South Australia after the war. He was the last remaining member of the 39th Battalion based in SA. There are now just 11 Kokoda veterans of the 39th still alive – three in Queensland and eight in Victoria . Mr Arnel leaves behind Cheryl, son-in-law Kevin, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren . His funeral will be at Modbury Church of Christ on Saturday at 2pm .
Copyright © 2019 News Pty Limited
Advertiser - Wednesday, 23 Oct 2019
Submitted 26 October 2019 by Trevor Thomas
Biography contributed by Carol Foster
Husband of doreen Arnel and father of Wayne and Cheryl
Previously served in the Militia where he had enlisted from 5 December 1938 with the service number 446482 and served with the 8th Battalion
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