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About Melbourne Polytechnic
Our History
Melbourne Polytechnic in the 1940s
Teachers in World War II

Teachers in World War II

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As with World War I, many teachers across Victoria, including from Collingwood and Preston Technical Schools, enlisted to fight in the war.

Teachers who served

Leading Aircraftman Richard E Spencer, enlisted in the RAAF in 1942 and was an instrument maker and repairer until 1945; Warrant-Officer A Leslie Woodward (Instructor from Preston Technical School) who served from 1941 to 1946, in New Guinea and Bougainville; Captain Thomas William Thrupp (b 1903; Senior Assistant at Preston Technical School 1937) who enlisted in July 1940 but died while serving in Syria in June 1941; Sergeant-Observer Colin McDonald Miller (b 1913; Assistant, Preston Technical School), killed in action in an air-raid over Berlin on January 16, 1943.