HARPER, Arthur Joseph
| Service Number: | 60002 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 July 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots |
| Born: | Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, 3 August 1908 |
| Home Town: | Coonabarabran, Warrumbungle Shire, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Butcher |
| Died: | Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, 28 January 1980, aged 71 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Coonabarabran General Cemetery, New South Wales |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 17 Jul 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 60002, Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Feb 1943: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, Royal Australian Air Force, 7 RSU - Repair Service Unit 12 ARD - Aircraft Repair Depot | |
| 6 Dec 1945: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 60002, Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Mick Estens
Was a butcher in Coonabarabran NSW owning his own business when WW2 was on. By 1941 he travelled to Sydney to enlist in the 8th Division AIF but was sent back to Coonabarabran when the military found out he was a Butcher so an essential service. Lucky for him as the 8TH Division spent years as prisoners of the Japanese. He had a wife and three children so didn’t really have to volunteer but witnessed the way men were treated after WW1 who didn’t join the military so he signed up.
Once back in Coonabarabran he sold his Butcher Shop to one of the Mullers on the understanding he would buy it back after the War. This let him be ‘unemployed’ so he travelled back to St Ives Sydney and now enlisted in the RAAF as the Army may have stopped him again. On enlistment he was given a rank of ACI as a base guard but once the RAAF found out he was a qualified butcher posted him as a butcher to RAAF slaughter works.
Based in NSW then posted to Townsville attached to a Catalina Flying Boat Squadron as a butcher he then was sent onto Darwin NT with repair and salvage units. 43rd Squardron RAAF.
After the War he returned to Coonabarabran took the butcher shop over and is still in family hands today.
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