Bobbie Puflett, a medical doctor, served with the Australian Army in Malaya and Singapore during World War II. He was the son of Robert Puflett and his wife, Ethel nee Delmont. The family had been in the bootmaking and hotel trades before living off the rental of properties in Sydney. Puflett won a scholarship to the Sydney Church of England Grammar School for boys at North Sydney. He went on to study medicine at the University of Sydney. In October 1940 he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps as an Acting Captain and was posted to the 10th Australian General Hospital which went to Singapore. He became a prisoner of war when Singapore fell on the 15 February 1942 and returned to Sydney on the 10 October 1945. Puflett continued his career in medicine, becoming a specialist in Sydney.