By Ian Beeck | posted on June 25, 2020
WORLD War II hero Richard Hobley was laid to rest in Nyabing on Friday surrounded by his extended family including 31 great-grandchildren, 23 grandchildren, friends and army veterans.
Mr Hobley was 98 and eldest child Jillian Anderson said he was a “stoic, hard-working man of few words that wasn’t frivolous with language”.
In a remarkable show of respect, the 10th Light Horse Albany Troop, of which Mr Hobley was made their first honorary member in 2015, travelled from Albany to Nyabing to partake in the funeral.
Ms Anderson said the troop went beyond the call of duty, leaving Albany at 5.45am with seven horses in six horse floats.
“They came up specially. We appreciate their efforts and are proud of what they did,” she said.
Mr Hobley enlisted in the army in 1941, serving initially with the 10th Light Horse in Bunbury for three years before seeing action in Borneo towards the end of the war.
Ms Anderson said he did not talk about the war until very recently.
“But then it was funny stories, such as when he was based in Bathurst, NSW, and he called it the coldest place he had ever encountered,” she said.
“That story kept coming up.”
Mr Hobley was buried next to his mother with Ms Anderson saying deceased members of the Hobley family were all buried in one block of the Nyabing Cemetery.
Students from the Nyabing Primary School were also in attendance with many related to Mr Hobley.
