The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Hoppe
- First Name:
- Vernon Thomas William
- Nick Name:
- Vern or Skete
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX10635
- Classification:
- Signaller
- Company:
- Headquarters Company, No. 1 Platoon.
- Enlisted:
- 14.01.1941
- DOB:
- 25.06.1910
- Place of Birth:
- Day Dawn (near Cue), Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Willy Hoppe
- Mothers's Name:
- Ellen Morris Hoppe
- Religion:
- Church of England
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Wool Scourer, Jandakot.
- Memorial:
- Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Collective Grave, Plot 10, Row B, Grave 2-5, Age 33.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp and Barracks Changi
- Force:
- 'D' Force Thailand, V Battalion
- Camps Thailand:
- Kinsaiyok, Brankassi, Hindaine, Kuii
- POW#:
- 1/8080 & 2253
- Cause of Death:
- Cerebral Malaria
- Place of Death:
- Kuii
- Date of Death:
- 19.11.1943
- Buried:
- Grave No. 208, Kuii
General Description
rear L-R Ron Evans, Jack Kyros, Claude Gault, Merve Wilkinson.
Front: Vern Hoppe, Bill Grundy & Ted Cosson.
Vern Hoppe was youngest of four children born to Willy Carl Max Hoppe or sometimes known as Willy Charles Hoppe.
Willy Hoppe was born in Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia in 1869. It is not known when he arrived in WA. He married Ellen Elizabeth Beisley in Fremantle in 1902. Ellen was born in Fremantle in 1880.
Vern Hoppe was born in May 1910 at Day Dawn (near Cue). Willy and Ellen resided in Heffernan Street, Day Dawn for many years where Willy was a watchmaker. He may have even been employed in mining to begin with, however he had a jewellery/watchmaking business with a partner another German migrant, Buchholer. The partnership was dissolved and Willy proceeded on his own, even opening another watchmaker/jewellery business at Sandstone in 1909.
Vern’s father Willy died 12 June 1920 at Wooroloo Sanitarium, where he would have been receiving treatment for TB. Vern would have been about 10 years old.
Please read about ‘D’ Force Thailand V Battalion and Kuii Camp
Although initially buried at Kuii, Vern’s body was interred and buried at Kanchanaburi where he is one of 91 men from 2/4th resting at the Commonwealth War Cemetery.
Day Dawn in 1904
Vern was about 10 years old when his father died.
Day Dawn was 6.6 km from Cue and originally gazetted as Bundawadra in 1894 however within three months was named Day Dawn. In 1892 Ted Hefferman had found gold and named his discovery ‘Day Dawn’ – the time of day he pegged his claim. In 1898 the famous ‘Great Fingall’ mine was discovered after which the area developed rapidly and the town of Day Dawn boomed. Flooding and other problems closed the mine by WW2 and Day Dawn faded away.
Camp Locations:
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Brankassi, Prang Kasi, 208k - Thailand
- Hindaine, Kui Mang 200k - Thailand
- Kuii, Kui Yae, 185.6k - Thailand
