Defensively Armed Merchant Ship (DEMS) TELEGRAPHIST LEONARD (BILL) KILMISTER RANR S/8527 Bill Kilmister was born in Marrickville NSW on the 25th of October 1925 and at the time of his enlistment in the RANR on the 11th of May 1943 he was residing in Nimbin in Northern NSW. Bill was the son of Stanley and Ada Kilmister, an older brother Alan had passed away in 1924 at the age of three. On entry Bill was rated as an Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class in the Communicans Branch and in December 1943 as an Ordinary Telegraphist. On completion of his training he posted to North Queensland and became the communications rating in the DEMS party on the SS Kurumba, a RAFA Auxiliary which had originally been built for he RAN in the Great War. Bill was advanced to Telegraphic in June 1944 and was de-mobilised on the 19th of July 1946. He was possibly one of the youngest members of a RAN DEMS party. He returned to Nimbin where in 1948 he married Berneice Stanger. Bill became a Bank Officer and later a Bank Manager the couple lived in Griffith, Kalibah and Balgowlah in NSW. Telegraphist Leonard (Bill) Kilminster passed away in Foster NSW on the 2nd of November 2010, aged 85. He is interred in the family grave in the Nimbin Cemetery Section B Lot 23.
Sources
Service Record - Australian National Archives
Nominal Roll - Department of Veterans Affairs
