Brewery, then went to learn a trade at Kalgoorlie Foundry, but was not eligible under the Australian Soldiers' Repatriation Act. He undertook various laboring jobs in the Eastern Goldfields. Later on he worked for a sewing machine company, and did casual work wherever he could get it until the early 1930s, when he worked initially as a commissionaire, then as a records clerk with the Western Australian Department of Mines in Perth. He had married Lily Maud Foster, a shop assistant, at St Mary's Cathedral, Perth, on 27 November 1926. They lived in the Perth suburb of Mount Hawthorn and were to have five children. In June 1941, during the Second World War, he left his position at the Department of Mines to serve in the army's Western Australian Echelon and Records Office, in Perth, part of Headquarters Western Command. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant in April 1947, and returned to his position as a records clerk at the Department of Mines. He died on 11 October 1983 while aboard a flight returning to Australia following a Victoria Cross and George Cross Association reunion. Survived by his five children, he was cremated at the Karrakatta Crematorium in Perth. His wife predeceased him earlier in 1983. Legacy Axford's war medals, including his Victoria Cross, were donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, where they are on display. Axford Park in Mount Hawthorn, and the Thomas Axford ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital, Hollywood, are named in his honour. On Anzac Day 2018, Axford and fellow VC recipient John Carroll, were honoured with a paver on the Walk of Fame in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Notes References Edgar, P. L. 2007. 'Axford, Thomas Leslie (Jack) (1894–1983)'. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 17. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne. External links Burial location of Thomas Axford "Western Australia" Location of Thomas Axford's Victoria Cross "Australian War Memorial" 1894 births 1983 deaths Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross People from Coolgardie, Western Australia Australian recipients of the Military Medal Australian military personnel of World War I Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery Military personnel from South Australia Australian Army soldiers