ATKINSON, Alan Keith
| Service Numbers: | VX39215, V83399 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 December 1936 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sale, Victoria, Australia, 30 April 1918 |
| Home Town: | Sale, Gippsland, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Sale High School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Assurance Agent |
| Died: | Mossiface, Victoria, Australia, 10 February 1983, aged 64 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Bairnsdale Public Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 21 Dec 1936: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, VX39215, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Apr 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V83399 | |
| 20 Jan 1941: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V83399 | |
| 14 May 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, VX39215, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion, embarked Melbourne for Singapore | |
| 13 Sep 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, VX39215, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion, embarked Singapore for Labuan on board HS Manunda, and disembarked Brisbane on 7 January 1946 on board the Manora | |
| 16 Jan 1946: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, VX39215, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Sergeant Alan Keith Atkinson (Service No:VX39215) initially served in the Militia (Private, Corporal; Service No:328411) with 52nd and 37th Battalions from 21 December 1936 to 5 April 1940. Corporal Atkinson then served in the ACMF (Service No:V83399) with 2/4 Training Battalion before transferring to the AIF on 21 January 1941. Sergeant Atkinson served with 2/29th Infantry Battalion in Malaya from May 1941 - in a letter home to his parents on 29 January 1942 he described intensive action against the Japanese 'Well I have been all through the thickest of it and have reached camp again unscratched, but terribly footsore and weary. I have really been through hell .... As soon as we landed the Japs opened fire and so started one of the heaviest and biggest battles in the history of warfare ... Gee it was hot!' (NAA). Reported Missing in Action on 15 February 1942, Sergeant Atkinson was confirmed a PoW of the Japanese the next year. Recovered from the Japanese in 1945, he embarked from Singapore for Labuan, and from there for Brisbane, where he disembarked on 7 January 1946. Sergeant Atkinson was attached to 2/29th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 16 January 1946. He was awarded the Australian Excellence Decoration (ED) on 10 November 1949.
Alan was born in Sale, Victoria in 1918, third of five children of Lennox Lett Atkinson (b1874 in Stratford, Victoria) and his second wife Josephine Mary Hundy (b1884 in Wentworth, NSW). Lennox (a Widower with seven children, and a Farmer) and Josephine married in 1910 in Sale, where they settled and raised their family and Lennox was a Farmer/Grazier.
Alan worked as a Farmer and Assurance Salesman in Sale before enlisting in the Army. In 1941 in Maffra, Alan married Evelyn Pearl Mills (b1920 in Maffra, Victoria). Following his Discharge, Alan and Evelyn settled in Sale, where they raised their family and Alan worked as an Assurance Salesman/Agent. In the early 1950s the family moved to Leongatha and then Bairnsdale, where Alan was a Farmer. By the early 1960s, Alan and Evelyn had moved to Mossiface - also in the Gippsland Region - where Alan worked as a Consultant until his death in 1983. Evelyn died in 1995.
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