Person:Harry James (6)

1939-1943 - Service Record: Name: JAMES, HARRY CECIL; Service: Australian Army; Service Number: VX1981; Date of Birth: 14 Feb 1916; Place of Birth: RIDDLE, VIC; Date of Enlistment: 25 Oct 1939; Locality on Enlistment: ASPENDALE, VIC; Place of Enlistment: SOUTH MELBOURNE, VIC; Next of Kin: JAMES, WILLIAM; Date of Discharge: 9 Dec 1943; Rank: Private; Posting at Discharge: 3 COY AASC 6 DIV; WW2 Honours and Gallantry: None for display; Prisoner of War: No.

1942 - Recorded in Australian Electoral Roll as Henry Cecil JAMES, farmer, at 45 Point Nepean Rd East, Aspendale, Victoria [with parents and brothers].

1949 - Recorded in Australian Electoral Roll as Harry Cecil JAMES, farmer, at 461 Point Nepean Rd East, Aspendale, Victoria [with wife].

1954, 1963, 1968 - Recorded in Australian Electoral Roll as Harry Cecil JAMES, counter, at 16 Swansea Rd, Aspendale, Victoria [with wife].

1972, 1977 - Recorded in Australian Electoral Roll as Henry Cecil JAMES, marker, at 29 Churinga Ave, Mitcham, Victoria [with wife].

1980 - Recorded in Australian Electoral Roll as Henry Cecil JAMES, marker, at 35 Churinga Ave, Mitcham, Victoria.

The following is from a eulogy given by his younger brother, Mick (Leslie Coleman JAMES):

Henry was number 5 in a family of 10 (7 boys & 3 girls). He was always known as Harry or Hass.

He moved with the family to a 300 acre family farm “Pine Grove” at Aspendale in 1920 and went to school at Aspendale State School and then Mordialloc Chelsea High School.

Harry mostly worked on the family mixed dairy farm & market garden. He also worked around Victoria: • Lumping wheat in the Mallee • Cutting firewood at Melton for the Bacchus Marsh Butter Factory • And also fencing on the Grande Ridge Road, Gunyah, in South Gippsland. This work was during the Great Recession that lasted from the middle of the 1920’s to the late 1930’s when things were very tough. Harry was a good worker and could turn his hand to anything.

September 1939 World War 2 was declared. Harry joined up the very first day that recruiting was open; hence his very low service number in the Second AIF of VX 1981. Harry left Melbourne in November 1939 on the “Empress of Japan” for the Middle East. Harry landed in Egypt and was involved in the early battles in the desert. He was a transport driver carting ammunition to the front line - a very dangerous job indeed. Harry’s younger brother Mick once asked him “What did he do when he was being strafed and bombed by the Germans? ” He said that he used to hide underneath his truck.