Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Kenneth Howitt (Service No:V240137) enlisted in the AMCF on 11 July 1941 and marched out to 3 Salvage Depot Fisherman's Bend. Private Howitt was attached to 37th Salvage Section at Discharge on 27 December 1944. Eldest brother Alec served in WWI and Gordon served in WWII.

Ken was born in Deniliquin, New South Wales in 1916, eleventh of twelve children of Alexander (Alec) Howitt (b1865 in Banffshire, Scotland) and Jessie May Preston (b1876 in Moama, New South Wales). Alec was a Farm Servant in Scotland when he immigrated in 1889 on board the Jumna, and moved to Deniliqin where he and Jessie married in 1894. Alec and Jessie lived at Moira Station via Mathoura, where Alec was a Boundary Rider. In 1901 Alec took up the farming property 'Melrose' at Calimo via Deniliquin, where he and Jessie raised their family and Alec was a Farmer/Grazier.

Ken started work at 'Melrose' as a Farm Labourer, and worked in Deniliquin as a Shearer. In 1941 when he enlisted in the Army he was a Road Maintenance Worked in Stawell, Victoria for the Country Roads Board. In 1941 in Murtoa, Victoria Ken married Thelma (Tottie) Gladys Pickering (b1918 in Stawell, Victoria). Following his Discharge from the Army, Ken and Tottie lived at Woori Yallock in Warburton where Ken was a Shearer, then in Healesville where he was a Farmer. In the late 1950s Ken and Tottie settled in Melbourne, where they raied their family and Ken worked as a Labourer until retirement. Ken died in 1998 and Tottie died in 2001.