Later Life
After his discharge from the Australian Imperial Force, Whittle re-settled in Hobart with his family. He briefly re-enlisted in the 40th Battalion during 1921, before moving to Sydney, New South Wales, where he gained employment as an inspector on the staff of an insurance company. Whittle later worked in several other jobs, including a period of service with Tooth's Brewery in Sydney. On 11 November 1929, he attended the New South Wales Dinner for recipients of the Victoria Cross in Sydney, before briefly re-enlisting in the Australian Army once again the following year.
On 7 February 1934, Whittle was walking through University Park when he was accosted by a small boy who said that his younger brother had fallen into the lake. Rushing to the area, Whittle dived into the weed-choked lake and began searching for the boy. Finding him unconscious, Whittle brought the boy to the bank and applied artificial respiration for approximately half an hour; the child later came around and was taken to hospital. Whittle left the scene and proceeded home in a taxi without leaving his name, but his identity was subsequently discovered and he was presented with a Certificate of Merit by the Royal Life Saving Society. Whittle himself was ill for a fortnight due to swallowing some of the foul water in the ornamental lake.
During the Second World War, Whittle's son, Ivan Ernest, served as a private in the 2/33rd Australian Infantry Battalion. He was killed when the B-24 Liberator aircraft he was travelling in crashed into a marshalling yard at Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 7 September 1943. At his home in Glebe on 2 March 1946, John Whittle died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 63. Survived by his wife, a son and three daughters, he was buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
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