Neville Douglas MURPHY

Service Number:	429986
Enlisted:	10 October 1942
Last Rank:	Pilot Officer
Last Unit:	No. 2 Operational Training Unit Mildura
Born:	Unley, South Australia, 9 June 1924
Home Town:	St Peters (SA), Norwood Payneham St Peters, South Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Clerk
Died:	Aircraft accident, Golgol, New South Wales, Australia, 23 September 1943, aged 19 years
Cemetery:	Mildura (Nichols Point) Public Cemetery, Victoria War Graves Plot C. Row A. Grave 9
Memorials:	Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

World War 2 Service

10 Oct 1942:	Involvement Pilot Officer, 429986
10 Oct 1942:	Enlisted Adelaide
10 Oct 1942:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 429986
23 Sep 1943:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, No. 2 Operational Training Unit Mildura
Date unknown:	Involvement

Neville "Spud" Murphy

Neville was the best mate of my step-mother's Uncle Bernie Elliott Coulter. For a while, he was even part of Bernie's family, as his mother, Emiline May Coulter (nee BERNIE) took him in as a teenager owing to Neville's parents' divorce.

A lasting legacy was that when my step-mother, Carol was still in the womb, Neville pronounced that the baby should be named "Carol" - regardless of sex. She was born only a few days after the air crash that killed Spud.

This story was written on the back of the photo that Carol kept of Spud for all her life. It came to light after Carol's own death in 2024, 80+ years' later.

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia