John Wiffen KIRKHAM

John Wiffen KIRKHAM Update Details

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KIRKHAM, John Wiffen

Service Numbers:	W14177, WX28502
Enlisted:	9 October 1941
Last Rank:	Staff Sergeant
Last Unit:	13th Field Ambulance
Born:	Bridgetown, Western Australia, 22 August 1918
Home Town:	Perth, Western Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Manufacturing Chemist
Died:	Perth, Western Australia, 11 February 1993, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

9 Oct 1941:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, W14177, 13th Field Ambulance

World War 2 Service

8 Jul 1942:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Sergeant, W14177, 13th Field Ambulance
9 Jul 1942:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Staff Sergeant, WX28502
15 Jul 1944:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Staff Sergeant, WX28502, 13th Field Ambulance, ex Cairns to Morotai per LST740
19 Jul 1945:	Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Staff Sergeant, WX28502, 13th Field Ambulance, ex Morotai to Balikapan per LST456
20 Dec 1945:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Staff Sergeant, WX28502

Help us honour John Wiffen Kirkham's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

John was the sixth of nine children of William John Kirkham (b1885 in Perth, WA) and first wife Elizabeth Charlotte Richmond (b1887 in Fremantle, WA). William (a Grocer) and Elizabeth married in 1908 in Perth WA. By 1912 the family had moved to Bridgetown, WA where William was a Grocer before returning to Perth and working as a Commercial Traveller. Following Elizabeth's death in childbirth in 1932, William remarried.

John was a Manufacturing Chemist in Perth WA when he enlisted in the ACMF in October 1941. He was a Sergeant (Service No:W14177) attached to 13 Field Ambulance when he was Discharged to enlist in the AIF in July 1942. John served with 13 Field Ambulance in the SWPA (Morotai and Balikapan) from 27 May 1945 to 2 December 1945 and was Discharged on 22 December 1945.

In February 1944 John married Susan Dorothy Ecclestone (b1922 in Perth, WA). Following John's Discharge the couple settled in Perth where John was a Chemist. He died in 1993 and Susan in 2003.

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