Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daughter of Leslie EASTON, 11 Albert Avenue, Oakleigh, Victoria.

Lorna was born in Oakleigh, Victoria and is a veteran of the Second World War.
Lorna’s first job was as a stenographer (secretarial and administrative duties) at Oakleigh City Council. She worked there until she enlisted in the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in October 1944, aged 19.

She underwent her initial training at Darley (near Bacchus Marsh) and was sent for cipher training in December 1944. Throughout 1945, Lorna transferred between Land Headquarters Cipher Replacement Section at Balcombe and Land Headquarters Cipher Production Section in Melbourne, with most of her service taking place at an old manor house named Grosvenor.

Cipher sections in signals offices were tasked with coding and decoding signals, which required a higher level of security vetting over and above regular enlistment.
After the war ended, Lorna was invited to stay on and continued to work at the Signals Office at Grosvenor. She was discharged in June 1947 after 985 days of service, having reached the rank of sergeant.

Lorna made several good friends during her service and kept in touch with them long after the war ended. One friend, Dot, married Lorna’s brother after they met on weekend leave. She advises younger serving members to ‘hold on to your friends. Good friends are like pure gold’.

Another friend, Betty, introduced Lorna to her cousin – Thomas ‘Jeff’ Paterson Jeff – whom Lorna married in September 1948. Jeff served in the Australian Army on Morotai and Borneo during the war. The couple went on to have 3 children, and now have 5 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Sadly, Jeff died in 1974.

Lorna was too busy for hobbies when she was younger, but she now enjoys cooking and knitting and likes to keep busy. And the secret to her long life? Lorna said she has no secret – ‘it is just luck’!