GANNAWAY, Alfred Robert James
| Service Number: | VX41452 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 26 March 1919 |
| Home Town: | Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Cardboard Box Machinist |
| Died: | Boronia, Victoria, Australia, 17 August 1967, aged 48 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne The Victorian Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 26 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Sep 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX41452, 2nd/6th Infantry Battalion, embarked Melbourne for Palestine | |
| 21 Jul 1942: | Wounded Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion, GSW chest | |
| 6 Mar 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion, embarked Middle East for Sydney | |
| 7 Aug 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion, embarked Sydney for New Guinea on board the Steinmitz | |
| 7 Feb 1944: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion, embarked Finschafen for Townsville on board the Andrew D White | |
| 3 Jun 1944: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 11 Sep 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, VX41452, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Elder of two brothers (Alfred and Herbert) who served in WWII, Corporal Alfred Robert James Gannaway (Service No:VX41452) enlisted in the AIF on 26 June 1940 as a Private attached to 2/6 Infantry Battalion. Private Gannaway served in the Middle East (Palestine, Tobruk, Gaza, Western Desert) from 15 September 1940 to 6 March 1943, and was attached to 2/32nd Infantry Battalion on 21 July 1942 when he was WiA - GSW chest. Private Gannaway then served with 2/32nd Infantry Battalion in New Guinea (Salamaua-Lae Campaign, Huon Peninsulau, Pabu, Christmas Hills) from 7 August 1943 to 7 February 1944, and was a Corporal attached to 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 11 September 1945.
Bob was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1922, second of five children of Alfred (Fred) Percy Gannaway (b1893 in Melbourne, Victoria) and Hazel Elizabeth May Waterston (b1898 in Bendigo, Victoria). Fred was working as a Labourer in Bendigo in 1915 when he enlisted in the Army (Private; Service No:3516), and following his Discharge in 1918, he and Hazel married in Melbourne. The couple lived at Quarry Hill via Bendigo where Fred was a Labourer. In 1920, under the Soldiers' Resettlement Act, Fred was awarded eighty acres at Stanhope via Rushforth, where he and Hazel settled and raised their family and Fred was a Dairy Farmer. In the mid 1930s they moved to Melbourne, and were divorced in 1939. Hazel later remarried and moved to Brisbane. Fred worked as a Labourer in Melbourne, where he died in 1957.
Bob was working in Melbourne as a Cardboard Box Machinist in 1940 when he enlisted in the Army, and following his Discharge in 1945, returned to Melbourne where he was working as a Carrier in 1946 when he married Mildred Gladys Dawe (b1923 in Melbourne, Victoria). Bob and Mildred settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Bob worked as a Polisher and Timber Worker and was a member of the Boronia RSL (President in 1953). Bob was a War Pensioner when he died in 1967, at forty five years of age. Mildred died in 2011.
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