Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sergeant Lionel Joseph Murphy MiD (Service Nos:V81433/VX9826) enlisted in the ACMF on 12 October 1939 as a Private and served with Royal Australian Army Pay Corps (AACP) 3rd and 5th District Accounts. Promoted to Sergeant in the AIF, he was attached to HQ AIF Middle East on 3 January 1940 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne for Kantara, and was posted to 2/1 Infantry Battalion on 19 October 1940. Sergeant Murphy embarked from Alexandria for service in Crete on 18 April 1941, and was captured by the Germans on 30 May 1941 - although not officially reported as a PoW until 29 October 1942. In his own words (NAA: letter from Sgt Murphy on 29/4/1991), Sgt Murphy describes how, in July 1941. he and thirteen other Australians escaped from a train transporting them to Germany (reported alive and well in Crete in July 1942: NAA). Sgt Murphy was recaptured in August 1942 with three other Australians, and taken to Gestapo HQ, and from there to hospital to be treated for Malaria, Malnutrition and Dropsy. Sgt Murphy (PoW Nos:5970 and 3041) was held in several PoW Camps, including Stalag 383 at Hohenfels, Bavaria and Stalag III-C at Brandenberg. Recovered on 2 May 1945, Sgt Murphy embarked from Liverpool for Sydney on 16 May 1945 and was hospitalised prior to Discharge on 23 August 1945. He was awarded a Mention in Despatches on 29 August 1946 'in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field'. In a letter to Army HQ (NAA) on 29 April 1991, Sergeant Murphy explained that he had 'never told much about this to my children and grandchildren, and now that I have reached old age I think it should be told' (NAA; 1991).

Len was born in Newport, Melbourne, Victoria in 1916, second of five children of Joseph Owen Murphy (b1891 in Parkes, NSW) and Olive Margaret King (b1893 in Omeo, Victoria). Joseph was a Billiard Room Marker when he and Olive married in 1915 in Melbourne, where they settled and raised their family and Joseph worked as a Grocer and Fruiterer.

Len was working as a Clerk when he enlisted in the ACMF in 1939, and in Melbourne in 1940, married Mary Ellen Stevenson (b1915 in Bendigo, Victoria) - Mary was working as a Saleswoman. In 1943, with Len was a PoW, Mary enlisted in the AWAS (Corporal; Service No:VF507964), and both Len and Mary Discharged in August 1945. They settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Len worked as a Clerk and then as a Fruiterer. Mary died in 1988 and Len in 2006.