Service: Army – 19th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps
Service number: V382957
Locality on Enlistment: Beech Forest
Duration of Service: 14 Jun 1942 – 21 Sep 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 21 July 1888 Yandoit Victoria
Parents: Steffano ZAPPELLI AND Roseanna ROBERTSON
Spouse: Grace Jane PUGH (1) Ada PUGH (2)
School/s:
Occupation: Farmer
Date and Place of Death: 28 Apr 1948 Colac
Place of Burial: Colac Cemetery
NOTES: Sapper Stephen John Zappelli served in WW1 in the 2nd Tunnelling Coy. In France 1917 he was wounded in action in a mine gas poisoning and on a 2nd occasion gassed from a shell in 1918. After both occasions he was returned to his unit in France and then returned to Australia on 27 Aug 1919. During WW2, following the outbreak of the Pacific war, the Government expanded the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) in February 1942. Membership was open to men aged between 18 and 60, including those working in reserved occupations. Stephen signed up for the VDC at the age of 54 years.