Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Younger of the two brothers (Alfred and Gerald) who served in the Navy in WWII, Able Seaman Gerald Speight (Sevice No:PM6309) enlisted in the RAN on 11 May 1943 as an Ordinary Seaman. He served with HMAS Cerberus, Moreton, Melville, Koala and Penguin, and was an Ordinary Seaman attached to HMAS Lonsdale at Discharge on 7 March 1946.

Gerry was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1925, youngest of four children of Alfred (Alf) Speight (b1889 in Yorkshire, England) and Ada May Elizabeth Pettet (nee Prosser; b1884 in Melbourne, Victoria). Alf was a Boilermaker's Striker in England when he immigrated, arriving in Sydney in 1913 on board the Zealandic. Alf worked in Sydney, and in Melbourne in 1914 as a Boilermaker - he and Ada met in Melbourne and were living in Sydney in 1916 when Alf enlisted in the Army (Private; Service No:6136). Following Alf's Discharge from the Army in 1919, the couple moved to Melbourne, where they married in 1920. Alf worked in Melbourne as a Labourer before he and Ada moved their family to Bendigo in the late 1920s - Alf was a Railway Employee. In the early 1940s Alf and his family returned to Melbourne.

Following his Discharge from the Navy, Gerry returned to Melbourne, and was working as a Joiner in 1947 when he married Valda Mary Gannaway (b1928 in Stanhope, Victoria). Gerry and Valda settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Gerry worked as a Joiner and Carpenter. In the late 1960s Geryy and Valda moved to Brisbane, where Gerry worked as a Carpenter until retirement. Valda died in 2001, and Gerry died in 2018.