S447
LEE, Albert Owen
| Service Numbers: | 3270, 3270 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 12th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Beeston, England, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Norwood (SA), South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Fitter & Turner |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Commissioner of Public Works Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3270, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Adelaide | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3270, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
| 4 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3270 , 12th Infantry Battalion, Merris (France), Fought and was involved in the France battle | |
| 20 Aug 1916: | Wounded Private, 3270, 12th Infantry Battalion, Merris (France), Got buried by a shell while fighting | |
| 11 Nov 1916: | Transferred Private, 12th Infantry Battalion, Transferred to England with 12th Infantry Battalion | |
| 18 Jun 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 3270, 12th Infantry Battalion, Officially discharged from the AIF after being declared medically unfit | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Private, 3270, 12th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College
Albert Owen Lee fought for the 12th Infantry Battalion in WW1. Albert Owen Lee was originally a migrant who came all the way from Beeston, England who lived in 69 George Street, Norwood. He was 26 and a half years old when he enlisted for the War and fought for the 12th Infantry Battalion. He was single. Before he enlisted for the War, he worked an occupation of fitter & turner. Fitters and turners were people who worked and specialized with metal. Turners basically worked, used and made parts of machinery or metal. His occupation was similar to blacksmiths. He embarked on HMAT A24 Benalla on 27 October 1915 to start his duties and had a service number of 3270. He was a Methodist.
Albert Owen Lee enlisted to fight in the AIF for WW1 on 16th August 1915, his enlistment was of his choice and he likely went to the local recruitment centre to enlist, so Albert Owen Lee didn’t get conscripted and wasn’t forced to sign up. Albert Owen Lee possibly signed up to fight because he thought it was fun, cool and he was also very interested and possibly friends convinced him to fight for the nation. Albert Owen Lee was enlisted and fought in the 12th Infantry Battalion.
Albert Owen Lee fought in and was mainly involved in France in 1916. The reason why Australia was fighting in France was because they were helping the British and French troops prevent Germany from taking over France and preventing the Germans and the Central Powers (Austria, Hungary and Germany) from going further and taking over more cities and making it into their territory.
The weapon that Albert Owen Lee possibly carried during his training or real battles was possibly a rifle which most soldiers would carry with them. Albert Owen Lee’s role in the army was a private in the army. A private in the Army was the lowest rank and most of the soldiers that were killed or injured in WW1 were privates. His responsibility and title in the army was he was probably just a normal regular soldier just following orders from the sergeant. Albert Owen Lee went to Egypt to train for France. Training in Egypt was very difficult because of having to march in very hot sweltering temperatures and having to train in the very hot Egyptian sun.
Albert Owen Lee’s battalion the 12th Infantry Battalion were part of the 3rd Brigade in the First Division and the battalion was drawn from Tasmania but 50% of the soldiers were all the way from SA or WA. Albert Owen Lee suffered a major injury when he fought in France in July 1916. Albert Owen Lee was fighting with his battalion when he got buried by a shell which as time went on had some very bad effects. On the 17th of October, he was hospitalised sick. On the 19th of November, he was transferred to England where he was stationed in Dartford and Weymouth. As he continued serving though, his condition got aggravated and he returned to Australia on the 13th Feb 1917 after serving a year with the AIF. He was officially discharged from the AIF on the 18th of June 1917 with defective hearing after being declared medically unfit.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The qualities of the ANZAC spirit and what it meant to be ANZAC included courage, endurance, good humour, ingenuity, good leadership and mateship. The special meaning of the ANZAC spirit was the qualities and the spirit which Australians and New Zealand soldiers both shared and showed in the War and the battlefield. Some examples of how he showed ANZAC spirit while serving at the 12th Infantry Battalion was he showed courage when he was fighting in the France and ANZAC Cove landing, even though he got injured, he wasn’t a coward and was very brave and just kept serving until he was discharged and another example was endurance, my soldier showed endurance when he was digging trenches during the ANZAC landing, despite it being very difficult and being in a lot of fear, he managed to endure and handle the pain and difficulties of digging trenches.