Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Life Before the War: Birth – age 21

Oscar Benno Diener was born on the 14th of July 1894, in Sutherlands, South Australia. Diener had dark brown hair and grey eyes. He would later grow to be the height of 5 ft 5, which is roughly 165cm. His Family consisted of his father Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Christian Diener (born in Australia), his mother Johana (Hannah) Caroline Diener (born in Prussia) and his 4 older siblings Johannes August Heinrich Diener, Anna Auguste Martha Diener, Franziska Elsie Diener and Selma Lydia Diener. He also had a deceased older sibling who was unnamed and died at birth. When he was a child his family moved to Norwood, South Australia. His occupation was a Motor Driver which is the equivalent of a modern taxi driver.

Life during WW1: age 22 – age 24

Diener enlisted in the Army at age 22 and one month on the 26th of September 1916.  His service number was 14985 and his unit was the 36th Heavy Artillery Group. Diener arrived at the camp on 18th of September 1916. He was a driver and a mechanic, and his rank was Private (the lowest rank in the Army). The 36th Australian Heavy Artillery Group served in England, and on the Western front. It was organised in two batteries, equipped with 9.2-inch howitzers. Diener was part of the 2nd Siege Battery Ammunition Column. H

In a letter that he wrote (which can be seen in the photos section of this website) he said the friends he made in the Army gave him the nickname of Delta. One explanation for this may be because ‘Delta’ is the way the letter ‘D’ in the alphabet is said over the radio, and his last name starts with a D.

On the 10th of September 1918 he was admitted to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station suffering from dysentery. Over the month of September Diener was transported to 3 other hospitals and eventually to England and then to two more hospitals there before leaving England and returning to Australia. He was discharged from the Imperial Force, most likely due to ill health as an effect of the dysentery, on the 2nd of April 1919 and reached his home in Adelaide on the 5th of May 1919.

Life after WW1: age 24 – age 72

Diener’s Mother died on the 25th of December 1919 soon after he returned from war. His mother sent 2 letters to the Army. These letters show that she was sick, considering the drastic change in her handwriting seen in two seperate lettters that can be veiwed in the photo section of this website.

Diener lived through WW1 and WW2 which is proven in a letter in which he wrote to Base records in Melbourne, in 1953. In the letter he stated he lost all his possessions in The Blitz in 1942 which included his discharge papers from the Army in WW1, and he requested new copies. This letter is a primary source because it gives direct evidence of certain events in Diener’s life. However, my research revealed that the Blitz ended in 1941 which casts some doubt over the reliability of the information in the letter. Diener wrote this letter more than 10 years after the Blitz ended so his memory of the time it happened my not have been exact. This same letter provides an indication that he worked at the Pay Office in the Department of Works.

Diener died at age 72 on the 26th of April 1966. At some point after WW1 Diener married Martha Isabel Ilean Crouch who died 2 years after him. He was very lucky for a man of that time to have lived such a long life, especially as he had been discharged from the Army due to ill health. After surviving the war as a soldier and then living through the Blitz and losing all his possessions, Diener deserved a long life.

Bibliography:

·       “Oscar Benno DIENER.” Vwma.org.au, vwma.org.au/explore/people/802246. Accessed 1st Dec. 2022.

·       scheme=AGLSTERMS. AglsAgent; corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. “Oscar Benno Diener | Discovering Anzacs | National Archives of Australia and Archives NZ.” Discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au, 23 Oct. 2013, discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/147795. Accessed 27 Nov. 2022.

·       ---. “RecordSearch - National Archives of Australia.” Recordsearch.naa.gov.au, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3506750&S=8&N=29&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3506750&T=P&S=18. Accessed 6 Dec. 2022.

·       “Oscar Benno Diener 1894-1966 - Ancestry®.” Www.ancestry.com.au, www.ancestry.com.au/genealogy/records/oscar-benno-diener-24-18mrpf. Accessed 6 Dec. 2022.