Lenard Vivian (Len) HOPPE

Lenard Vivian (Len) HOPPE Update Details

If you confirm that you want to proceed with the update, this record will be locked for editing by all other users until you have finished. You will have 7 days to complete your changes before they will be automatically submitted.

Do you want to proceed?

HOPPE, Lenard Vivian

Service Number:	R56597
Enlisted:	15 January 1960
Last Rank:	Leading Seaman
Last Unit:	HMAS Vendetta (II)
Born:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 30 August 1935
Home Town:	Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling:	Kilcoy State School, Queensland, Australia
Occupation:	Station Hand
Died:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 5 May 2022, aged 86 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Not yet discovered
Memorials:	Queensland Garden of Remembrance (Pinnaroo), Qld

Vietnam War Service

15 Jan 1960:	Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, R56597
20 Sep 1965:	Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, R56597
25 May 1966:	Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, R56597
14 Jan 1969:	Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, R56597, HMAS Vendetta (II)

Help us honour Lenard Vivian Hoppe's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Leading Seaman Lenard Vivian Hoppe (Service No:R56597) initially enlisted in the Army on 28 April 1954 as a Private (Service No:Q20733) attached to 11 National Service Training (NST) Battalion, before enlisting in the RAN on 15 January 1960. Leading Seaman (Cook) Hoppe served on HMAS Cerberus, Penguin, Leeuwin and Watson, and in 1965/1966 on HMAS Vendetta. LSC Hoppe was Discharged on 14 January 1969.

Len was born in Brisbane QLD in 1935, eldest child of Vivian Carl Hoppe (b1916 in Brisbane, QLD) and Gladys Eva (aka Eva) Springall (b1915 in Brisbane, QLD). Vivian and Eva married in 1935 in Brisbane, where they settled and raised their family. Vivian worked as a Labourer, Motor Assembler, Garage Attendant and Builder's Labourer, and served in the ACMF in WWII. Vivian died in 1947.

Len was working as a Station Hand in 1954 when he was 'called up' for National Service, and was a Labourer in Brisbane in 1960 when he enlisted in the Navy. In 1962 in Victoria, Len married Evelyn Isobel Finlayson (b1937 in Cobden, Victoria) - the couple lived in Sydney and Fremantle until 1969, when Len was Discharged from the Navy. Len and Evelyn settled in Brisbane, where Len worked as a Removalist. Len died in 2022.

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia