Service: Australian Army
Service number: VX55057
Locality on Enlistment: Beeac Victoria
Duration of Service: 26 Apr 1941 – 31 May 1943
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None to display
Birth date and Place: 25 Jul 1912. Beeac, Victoria
Parents: Thomas George STEPHENS and Elizabeth Lavinia OPIE
Spouse: Single
Occupation: School teacher
Death date and Place: 31 May 1943. Malaya
Burial place: Beside track near Tengkil, Malaya
Notes: Hector left Colac High School to work at his father’s grocery store, and after having made repeated applications for a teaching job, he returned to school at the age of 21 to gain extra qualifications. He was eventually employed as a rural school teacher in the Mallee and Riverina. In 1941 Hec enlisted in the Army and his brief life ended in 1943. His good friend Jim Wright wrote these words: “He was a good man, a brave man, and showed great courage and fortitude in awful conditions. All his family can be proud of him”