after returning to base, "that was the best landing I ever made". On 1 January 1945, he was promoted to flight sergeant. By the end of the war, Waters was commanding operations whose personnel included commissioned officers. A colleague described him as a "gaunt, genial figure, humble despite his daring feats". As well as flying, Waters held the RAAF middleweight boxing title. One of Len Waters' brothers, Donald Edward (Jimmy) Waters, had served as an infantryman with the Australian Army during the war. With the end of the Pacific War in September 1945, Len considered volunteering for the Australian component of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, if his brother did also. Jim declined at the time (he later changed his mind), so Len returned to Australia and left the Air Force with the rank of warrant officer on 18 January 1946. Post-war life and legacy After returning to Australia, Waters attempted to start a regional airline serving South West Queensland, but he was not able to secure finance or bureaucratic agreement. He reportedly wrote four letters seeking government approval, but never received a reply. He never flew a plane again. Although racism in the military during World War II was considered to be minimal, Waters and other Aboriginal people who had served their country found that the skills they had acquired were not valued in peacetime. He wrote later that, having put off his uniform, he simply "returned to being a blackfellow". Four weeks after his discharge from the Air Force, Waters married Gladys Saunders, with whom he raised six children. He worked as an automotive mechanic, but was forced to cease by union rules, which required him to serve an apprenticeship. Waters was then briefly employed by a local council in Queensland as a road worker, before returning to shearing, which took him away from his family to properties stretching from North Queensland to Victoria. He personally estimated that he sheared a million sheep during his life. Waters applied for housing commission accommodation and was allocated a house at Inala, Brisbane, in August 1956. He eventually bought the property and lived there for 33 years. He died on 24 August 1993 at the age of 69 in Cunnamulla, and was buried in St George Cemetery. In 1995–96, Waters was commemorated in several ways: Australia Post depicted his portrait on a stamp and that of his P-40 Kittyhawk