Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joan Eleanor Field was born on 29 January, 1925, the daughter of Herbert Booker Field and Winifred Eva Randall.   The family lived at 47 Russell Street, Quarry Hill, nr. Bendigo.   Joan Eleanor attended the Quarry Hill Methodist Church and the Quarry Hill State School.   

Her father had enlisted for service in the AIF during WW1 and qualified as a First Class Signaller together with his good friend Norman McLaren Young.   The friendship continued and extended to their subsequent families.   Joan Eleanor Field and Audrey June Young, being the same age, were particularly good friends.

Herbert Booker Field, was employed with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission in Bendigo, but he was transferred to Head Office, Melbourne, and in 1935 the family moved into a house at 464 Hawthorn Road, South Caulfield.   Joan Eleanor completed her education at Caulfield Central School.

Her father continued his military service by enlisting in the AMF Militia, 14 Bn (Prahran Regiment) and was immediately appointed Signalling Sergeant.   He was Commissioned Lieutenant in December, 1937, and appointed Signal Officer.   After war was declared his services as a Signalling Instructor were often in demand.   He was later called up for continuous military duty and appointed to HQ Southern Command.

In February, 1942, Joan Eleanor Field qualified in a course of study in Air Raid Precautions, under a scheme approved by the State Emergency Council, Victoria.   As an Air Raid Warden she had to go around the houses and check that no chink of light was showing.

Joan was determined to follow her father's example and do more for the war effort, and on 5th June, 1943, enlisted in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) as a Signalwoman.    Her friend, Audrey June Young, joined at the same time.   The AWAS camp site was in Fawkner Park, South Yarra.

"Following in the footsteps of their fathers who were signallers during the great war, Joan Field, daughter of Major and Mrs H. B. Field, Caulfield, and formerly of Bendigo; and Audrey, daughter of Major and Mrs N. McLaren Young, Brougham Street, Bendigo, joined the A.W.A.S. some months ago, and are at present endeavouring to prove that they can be just as efficient as their respective fathers were before them, when they qualified as first-class signallers during the great war.    Coincidence plays a big part in the two families as both girls are second daughters, both 18 years of age, and each shows a great keenness for sig. training.   The accompanying photos show the fathers also at 18, when they enlisted in the last war, and the daughters in a recent photo.   Both majors resumed their millitary life again in the present war as signalling instructors, but now hold staff appointments, Major Young, somewhere in Australia, and Major Field as A.Q.M.G. in Vic. L. of C. Area."     [The Bendigo Advertiiser, November 13, 1943.]

During her training Joan met Signals Instructor Neil Francis McCrystal.   They became engaged before Neil was posted to Papua New Guinea, where he enlisted in the AIF and served with Signals, 5 Division.   Joan was discharged from AWAS on 17 May, 1946, and married  Neil on 1st March, 1947, in the Methodist Church, Koorong Road, Caulfield.   They moved to Qld after their marriage and settled in Clayfield, a suburb of Brisbane.