Jeremiah Thomas HAIRE

Jeremiah (Jerry) enlisted on 15 Jan 1941, was appointed Acting Lance Corporal on 11 Feb 1941 and Acting Corporal 10 Mar 1941. He was an original member of the unit, embarking aboard “ZEALANDIA” on 8 Dec 1941 for Timor as a Corporal in No 6 Section, “B” Platoon. He was appointed Lance Sergeant on 1 Sept 1942 and after his campaign on Timor,  he embarked at “BETANO” for Darwin aboard the “KURU” on 16 Nov 1942 as a Lance Sergeant.

He was Mentioned in Despatches, London Gazette, 25 May 1943 and in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No 119-3 Jun 1943. These are the two Gazettes for the Timor Campaign.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on 4 Aug 1943 and transferred to Australian Intelligence Corps, Land Headquarters, 18 Sept 1943.

Served with Allied Geographical Unit in Brisbane, Melbourne and Emplaned for Manila on 8 Aug 1945. He returned to Australia by plane on 2 Oct 1945.

He was discharged on 4 Dec 1945.

He was entitled to the 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal and Australian Service Medal 1939-45,with a MID emblem pictured below. He may now also be entitled to the Australian Service Medal 1945-75 with a clasp.

Jerry was made a Life Member of the Association in 1977.

See official letter below from Royal Australian Air Force Recruiting, dated 2 July 1940, when he applied to join as a pilot and was REJECTED as not reaching the high standard required of fitness by the RAAF. A bit of a joke, as I would have thought that being fit enough to be a commando would be a much higher standard than that of a pilot.