Person:James Tucker (45)

Linda Podhaczky writes: "James Tucker ran away from home, never to return, at the age of 8-10 years old, after his mother died and his father remarried. An "early street kid", he joined the Navy (under a false name) and went to WW1; which is quite amazing as he was still only 16 when the war finished! When James returned from the war, he still thought he was wanted by the police, as runaways were at the time. So he took to the road and had no contact with his family. However, in the early 1920s, when working as a labourer at the opening on the Yallourn open cut coal mine, he talked to an older man who bunked on the other side of the petition (for making such a noise after shift by dropping his shoes on the wooden floor). He nearly died when the man asked him if his name was Jimmy Tucker, as he was still going by his assumed name. It turned out to be none other than his older brother, Bob. They were great mates for the rest of their lives."