Soldier profiles

Name : WHEELER, LESLIE KEITH
Service Number : NX91786
Date of Birth : 03/06/1917
Place of Birth : MUDGEE, NSW
Known as : KEITH
Occupation on Enlistment : MACHINIST
Date of Enlistment : 10/03/1942
Locality on Enlistment : KINGSFORD, NSW
Place of Enlistment : PADDINGTON, NSW
Next of Kin : WHEELER, ETHEL
Rank (at time of discharge / death) : CORPORAL
Service : ARMY
Final Posting : 11 WORKS COMPANY
Position / Platoon / Company (as 2/2 Pioneer) (date / details) :
Unit Transfers / Promotions (date / details) :
Theatres of War : NEW GUINEA, BORNEO
Actions : BALIKPAPAN (BORNEO)
Wounded (date / details) : 29/01/1944 GUNSHOT WOUND LEFT ARM
Discharged : N/A
Date Died : 14/11/1945
Age at Death : 28
Community Roll of Honour : KINGSFORD (NSW)
Buried Location / Memorial (P.O.W., D.O.W., K.I.A.) : LABUAN WAR CEMETERY, MALAYSIA. 5. B. 15. / AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL COMMEMORATIVE AREA PANEL 25
K.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
D.O.W. (date / details) : 14/11/1945 / PYREXIA OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN / BALIKPAPAN, BORNEO
M.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
P.O.W. (location/s) : NO
Died P.O.W. (date / details) : N/A
P.O.W. Camps (details) : N/A
Recovered P.O.W. (location/s) : N/A
Honours and Gallantry : None for display
Applicable Australian War Memorial circulars : NO
References found (entries & photos) : National Archives of Australia (Barcode 4661089 [DIGITISED]), WW2 Nominal Roll, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Australian War Memorial, Death notice (Sydney Morning Herald 14/11/1946)

Background : Son of Ernest George and Ina Mildred Wheeler; husband of Ethel Dorothy Wheeler, of Kingsford, New South Wales, Australia.

Service & personal summary At enlistment : married (with 1 child of 17 months), brown eyes, light brown hair, medium complexion. Marks / scars : appendix scar, scar front right wrist.

Service record.
10/03/1942 Marched into General Details Depot Sydney, New South Wales.
07/04/1942 Marched out to 14 Infantry Training Battalion.
08/04/1942 Taken on strength 14 Infantry Training Battalion Dubbo, New South Wales.
09/04/1942 Transferred to 9 Pioneer Battalion.
10/04/1942 Taken on strength 9 Pioneer Battalion.
25/07/1942 Detached to Pioneer Detachment Cowra, New South Wales.
03/08/1942 Transferred to 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
04/08/1942 Taken on strength from 9 Pioneer Battalion to 2/2 Pioneer Battalion.
29/01/1943 Entrained for 3 Military District (Victoria).
26/03/1943 Entrained for 1 Military District (Queensland).
01/07/1943 Granted proficiency pay.
25/07/1943 Embarked Townsville, Queensland.
28/07/1943 Disembarked Port Moresby, New Guinea.
30/09/1943 Admitted 2/4 Field Ambulance Main Dressing Station with myositis right shoulder.
10/10/1943 Evacuated from 2/4 Field Ambulance Main Dressing Station to 2/11 Australian General Hospital and transferred to X list.
25/10/1943 Diagnosed fractured left clavicle.
26/10/1943 Evacuated from 2/11 Australian General Hospital to 2/9 Australian General Hospital.
09/11/1943 Diagnosed functional paresis right shoulder.
11/11/1943 Discharged 2/9 Australian General Hospital to New Guinea General Details Depot.
14/11/1943 Marched out to unit & struck off X list.
29/01/1944 Evacuated to 2/1 Australian General Hospital with gunshot wound left arm and transferred to X list.
09/02/1944 Discharged 2/1 Australian General Hospital to New Guinea General Details Depot.
21/02/1944 Embarked Port Moresby, New Guinea on S.S. Montoro.
29/02/1944 Disembarked Sydney, New South Wales.
29/02/1944 Taken on strength by 2/2 Pioneer Battalion from disembarkation to proceed on leave.
22/07/1944 Marched out to L.H.Q. School of Mech. Operation of Mechanical Equipment and Road Making Machinery course and transferred to X list.
27/09/1944 Qualified L.H.Q. School of Mech. Operation of Mechanical Equipment and Road Making Machinery course.
22/10/1944 Marched in from L.H.Q. School of Mech. Operation Machinery course - Liverpool.
03/12/1944 Marched out from 2/2 Pioneer Battalion to 1 Australian Corps Water Proofing School.
17/12/1944 Marched into 2/2 Pioneer Battalion from 1 Australian Corps Water Proofing School.
08/01/1945 Appointed Lance Corporal.
16/03/1945 Embarked Cairns, Queensland on U.S.A.T. Sea Barb.
28/03/1945 Disembarked Morotai.
01/05/1945 Graded G.P.I. operator excavator.
01/08/1945 Proficiency pay withdrawn.
13/06/1945 Promoted to acting Corporal.
20/08/1945 Rank of Corporal confirmed.
21/06/1945 Embarked Morotai for service in Balikpapan.
08/10/1945 Date of embarkation to Morotai amended from 16/03/1945 to 14/03/1945.
08/10/1945 Transferred from 2/2 Pioneer Battalion to 2 Mechanised Equipment Platoon.
11/10/1945 Transferred to 11 Works Park Company.
09/11/1945 Admitted 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station with Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (P.U.O.) and transferred to X list.
14/11/1945 Died whilst patient 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station.
15/11/1945 Initially buried Grave 15, Row B Balikpapan, Borneo.