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Thanks, I am pretty sure this is him as my grandmother was Sarah and we know he was definitely in Australian Army during WW2. (I have lots of photos)

(I think this is what mmm45 found?) - There is a WW2 Australian Army record for a Leonard Mawhood, born South Shields dob given as 6 Aug 1905 next of kin Sarah Mawhood, enlisted Caulfield Victoria.  One or other of the two?

I also think these following two records are likely him as I am pretty sure he had a sister called Dorothy, I would love to find a birth record as from stories my grandmother told me he was pretty fluid with his age:

Another  Leonard Mawhood of South Shields with a sister Dorothy William of Ivy Street joined the Tank Corps on 28 Feb 1925 giving his age as 21 years 5 months.  He deserted 25 April 1925.

The passenger L Mawhood leaving UK on Orama 14 Nov 25 gave his address as Ivy Street.

MaxD

Assuming it is the same person, I am Leonard Mawhood's granddaughter and we have also always been curious about mystery surrounding him. I was told that he was too young for WW1, so lied about his age, too old for WW2, so again lied about his age. Though the records are different, I think I was told by my grandmother (Sarah), that he was born in 1900.

Hi,
my husband's father told my husband some great stories while he was alive.
Among them was that he joined the army and fought in France in WW1.
I find it hard to believe since he was born in 1903, (no birth found) and would have been too young.
I've tried looking for service records but keep coming up against the fact that so many records were destroyed in the 1940 bombings. The only place I found that I could get into was the service medal site and his name isn't there.
Is there anyone here who is able to look into service records?
His Name was Leonard Mawhood and he was born in South Shields.
He claimed that he and his mates got into a pub brawl, he and two others deserted and came to Australia.
I know he arrived in Australia in 1925, on a ship that had come from London. If he was a deserter he surely wasn't still in London in 1925.
Hope someone can help.
Cheers,
Leonie.