Arthur Francis Flecknoe

  General Notes:

On 10 November 1924 it was reported in the Shepparton Advertiser, page 5, that Arthur had been injured when his butcher deliver cart overturned as a result of a mishap with the horses reins. He was living at the Terminus Hotel at the time, as was his mother, although the article stated that "his parents live in Deniliquin, NSW".

In 1936 Arthur was living in Church St, Minyip, Victoria with his wife Doris and working as a butcher.

Arthur served in WW2. He enlisted at Horsham on 15 May 1940 and was assigned to the 7 Division Australian Army Supply Column (A.A.S.C.) He was issued with the service number VX32305. At the time he was 36 1/2 years old and working as a Butcher's Assistant. He listed his wife Doris, residing in Minyip, as his next of kin. Minyip was also his own permanent address. Although he was initially classed as Unfit for service due to a "lack of lower plate for teeth", this was presumably addressed pretty smartly as by 1 June he was deemed fit after a subsequent medical examination, and he commenced service on 14 June 1940.

Arthur undertook initial training at Bendigo for the next four months and was graded as a Group III Mechanic. On 17 October he was assigned to the 4 Military District and spent time at Alice Springs and Wayville before being sent to the 3 Military District at Caulfield, Victoria on 7 May 1941, where he spent the next year. On 23 July he was assigned to 4 Australian Reserve Motor Transport Company. On 30 July Arthur boarded a ship bound for Singapore, disembarking there on 16 August. By the 5 September he was serving with his Unit in Malaya as they prepared for the expected Japanese invasion, which finally came on 8 December 1941.

By 16 February 1942 - the time of the fall of Singapore - he was reported as "Missing". It was not until 1 November 1943 that it was confirmed that he was a P.O.W. In the meantime, just a few months after the fall of Singapore his widowed mother died, not knowing the fate of her son.

After the Japanese surrender on the 2 September 1945 Arthur was "recovered from the Japanese at Singapore" on 5 September, put on a ship back home a week later, and he finally disembarked in Sydney on 16 September 1945. He was suffering from Malaria and spent a little time in hospital at Heidelberg, Victoria after his return recovering from this.

At the time of his discharge from the army on 3 December 1945 he was serving with the 4 Australian Reserve Motor Transport Company as a Private and a Group III Mechanic. He was 42 years and 11 months old and he was described as 5 feet 9 1/2 inches tall, with a medium complexion and medium hair. He had 3 children under the age of 16 years and 2 children over the age of 16 years.

Arthur married Doris McClackarty, daughter of George McClackarty and Sarah Unknown, in prob Victoria, Australia. (Doris McClackarty was born in 1903 in Surrey, England.)

Arthur next married Margaret Elliot Cowles, daughter of William Charles Walter Cowles and Octavia Angelina Henderson Clark, in prob Victoria, Australia. (Margaret Elliot Cowles was born in 1905 in Mosman, New South Wales, Australia and died on 9 May 1974 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.)