Service: Army – 2/2 Machine Gun Battalion
Service number: VX82198
Locality on Enlistment: Dreeite
Duration of Service: 27 Jul 1942 – 13 Oct 1944
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 28 Aug 1923 Colac
Parents: Percival James LAIDLER and Margaret Emily TURNER
Spouse: Betsy Isabel WILLIAMSON
School/s: Dreeite State School, Colac High
Occupation: Electroplater
Date and Place of Death: 24 Nov 2014 Colac
Place of Burial: Colac Cemetery
NOTES: Ron served in the Second Machine Gun Battalion in the Middle East and New Guinea, generally engaging the enemy in a team of five. In an interview with the Colac Herald in November 2011, Mr Laidler, then 88, said: “I carried machinery. Someone carried ammo, someone carried water, someone carried the tripod, each had his job to do… I can tell you it wasn’t easy trying to carry heavy weights.” “We were like brothers, really, we all had the same thing to do. We were in it together.” His army mates were the best friends he ever had. However he was happier to talk about the premierships he won playing cricket and football with Alvie as a captain and coach.