Service: Army – 66 Australian Infantry Battalion
Service number: VX146490
Locality on Enlistment: Beech Forest
Duration of Service: 21 Sep 1943 – 19 Sep 1946
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 12 August 1925 Beech Forest
Parents: Stephen John ZAPPELLI and Grace Jane PUGH
Spouse: Not married
School/s: Beech Forest State School
Occupation: Tram driver
Date and Place of Death: 18 Mar 1997 Colac
Place of Burial: Ashes scattered in the sea
NOTES: Aged 18 Stephen enlisted in the Army in 1943. For some time he was stationed at Dubbo and then served in New Guinea from Dec 1944 until Oct 1945, when he was shipped out after contracting Cerebral Malaria. He re-joined his unit in Jan 1946. Private Zappelli volunteered for the occupational forces in Japan after the second atomic bomb was dropped there and Japan surrendered. His Battalion landed at Kure in Japan, and he was stunned by the damage caused by the two bombs and sent many pictures home. After returning to Melbourne in Sep 1946, he suffered another bout of Cerebral Malaria and was not expected to live; however he survived and spent several weeks at a rehabilitation centre.