DE LANCE HOLMES, Ralph
| Service Numbers: | NX31570, NX31570 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company |
| Born: | Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, 12 September 1904 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Salesman |
| Died: | Adelaide, South Australia, 11 September 1956, aged 51 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 24 Jun 1940: | Enlisted NX31570 | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Jan 1941: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lieutenant, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company | |
| 3 Feb 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lieutenant, NX31570, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company, embarked Sydney for Middle East per HMT Aquitania | |
| 15 Jan 1942: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Captain, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company | |
| 7 Sep 1943: | Embarked Captain, NX31570, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company, embarked Townsville for Scaramouche (Port Moresby) per Tarooma | |
| 7 Dec 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Captain, NX31570, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company, deplaned Townsville ex New Guinea | |
| 29 Jul 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Captain, NX31570, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company, embarked Townsville for Port Moresby per Ormiston |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Captain, NX31570, 1st Advanced Ordnance Workshop Company, deplaned Townsville ex Port Moresby |
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World War 2 Service
| 12 Jan 1945: | Discharged NX31570 |
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Help us honour Ralph De Lance Holmes's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Captain Ralph De Lance Holmes (Service No:NX31570) enlisted in the Army on 1 June 1940 as a Corporal attached to 1st Cavalry Training Squadron and by 3 February 1941 was a Lieutenant attached to 1 Advanced Ordnance Workshops when he embarked from Sydney for the Middle East on board HMT Aquitania. Promoted to Captain on 15 January 1942, he served in New Guinea (1943/1944) and was attached to ist Advanced Ordnance Workshops at Discharge on 12 January 1945. Sibling Clifford also emigrated to Australia and served in WWII.
Born in 1904 in Gloucestershire England, Ralph was the third of eight children of William Cleveland Lionel De Lance Holmes (b1872 in Illinois, USA) and Elizabeth Maud Mary Curry (b1899 in Gloucestershire, England). William (a Traveller) and Elizabeth married in 1899 in Bristol, Gloucestershire and lived in Gloucestershire and Somerset where they raised their family and William worked as an Insurance Agent and Insurance Company Superintendent.
Ralph, decribed as 'a Bristol born world traveller {who} has organised festivals, carnivals and exhibitions in places as wide apart as Germany and India' (Trove; 1951) was a Travelling Salesman in Brisbane, QLD in 1931 when he married Thelma Maxine Elliott (b1909 in Brisbane, QLD) - Thelma was a Cafe Assistant. Ralph and Thelma separated and Ralph worked in Toowoomba and Newcastle NSW as a Travelling Salesman before their divorce in 1936. Ralph was in Sydney, NSW and working as a Travelling Salesman when he enlisted in the Army and then married Daphne Eudora Lee (nee Reynolds; b1914 in Perth, WA). By 1946 Ralph and Daphne had divorced and Ralph worked in Sydney as a Secretary before moving to Adelaide, South Australia in 1950. Ralph worked in Adelaide as Lay Superintendent of the Adelaide Children's Hospital and was appointed Organising Secretary of the 1951 Barossa Valley Festival. Ralph died in 1956.
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