NF454605 PRIVATE Gloria Willis (nee McGrath) nee Palmer

Service No: NF454605
Service: Australian Women's Army Service
Place of Birth: Boorowa
Highlights: Gloria enlisted on 30 Mar 1943 stating the age of 23 years - actually, she was 21 years old. (Gloria had put her Date of Birth as 29 Dec 1920). Gloria undertook initial training and mess stewards training at Ingleburn.

She was posted to Aust Army Canteen Services Club in Sydney on 23 May 1943 and advised her unit that she had married Hassell Arthur McGrath on 22 May 1943, and that this man was now her next of kin. No marriage is recorded in Birth Death & Marriages (BDM) NSW. On 23 Dec 1943, Gloria advised that her place of birth was actually Boorowa. BDM NSW records have a Gloria Palmer born to Varney & Linda Palmer in Boorowa and that the birth was registered in 1922. Gloria was frequently Absent Without Leave (AWOL) from her unit and on 11 Jul 1944 was sent to the Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) Training Centre at Wagga Wagga (Kapooka).

Gloria advised her new unit that she had married NX163738 L/CPL Arthur Eilden Willis, 1 Aust FD Sqn, and there is an entry in BDM NSW to support this marriage, at Wagga Wagga dated 10 Jun 1944. From Arthur’s Army Records, he was in Aust on leave from his service in New Guinea.

Gloria was in Sydney on the recorded day of the marriage, but had gone AWOL on 28 Jun 1944 and surrendered herself at Wagga Wagga on 5 Jul 1944. On 22 Apr 1945 Gloria was posted to 3 RAE Training Bn as a cook and transferred to 4 RAE Training Bn on 16 May 1945. On 27 Oct 1945 she transferred to 1 RAE Training Bn as staff, before discharging on 22 Feb 1946 and noting her actual date of birth as 29 Dec 1921 on her discharge papers.