CHOATE, Alec Herbert
| Service Number: | WX4707 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/7th Field Regiment |
| Born: | Hertfordshire, England, 5 April 1915 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Hale School, Perth, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Assistant Surveyor |
| Died: | Mandurah, Western Australia, 2 August 2010, aged 95 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 23 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Nov 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Bombardier, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment, embarked Fremantle for Middle East on board HMAT Stratheden | |
| 18 Feb 1943: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Bombadier, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment, embarked Middle East for Fremantle | |
| 8 Apr 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment, embarked Townsville for Morotai on board General Butner | |
| 4 Sep 1945: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment, embarked Tarakan for Brisbane on board Kanimbla | |
| 22 Sep 1945: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Sergeant, WX4707, 2nd/7th Field Regiment |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Sergeant Alec Herbert Choate (Service No:WX4707) enlisted in the AIF on 23 June 1940 as a Private with 14th Field Battery. On 22 November 1940 Bombardier Choate was attached to 2nd/7th Field Regiment when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for the Middle East on board HMAT Stratheden, returning to Fremantle on 18 February 1943. Promoted to Sergeant on 17 August 1943, he served with 2nd/7th Field Regiment in Morotai and Tarakan (April to September 1945). Sergeant Choate was attached to 2nd/7th Field Regiment at Discharge on 22 September 1945.
Alec was born in Hertfordshire, England in 1915, youngest of two children of Sidney Walter Choate (b1881 in Buckinghamshire, England) and Violet Audrey Jean Gardiner (b1889 in Kent, England). Sidney (a Soldier) and Violet (a Launderess) married in 1910 in Essex. Sydney had enlisted in the British Army as a Gunner in 1900, serving in Ireland and in WWI, and was a Captain at HQ Military Command Gibraltar in 1922 when he resigned his Commission. Sidney and Violet immigrated in 1922, arriving in Fremantle with their two sons on board the Barrabool. The family settled in Perth, where Sidney was a Civil Engineer with the Water Supply Department.
Alec held several jobs after finishing his education at Hale School, and was a full time poet and writer in 1935 when he was first published in the Western Mail. In 1940 when he enlisted in the Army, Alec was working as an Assistant Surveyor, and in Perth in 1943 he married Shirley Joan Arundel Hatton (b1920 in Perth, Western Australia). Following his Discharge from the Army, Alec and Shirley settled in Perth, where they raised their family and Alec worked as a Surveyor with the Metropolitan Watter Supply. He was a renowned writer - writing poetry during his military service in WWII - his poetry has been published in more than thirty Australian anthologies and been broadcast on ABC Radio. Alec received numerous awards for his writing - in 1976 the inaugural Tom Collins Poetry Prize, in 1986 the Western Australian Literary Award for his book 'A Marking of Fire', 1989 the University of Western Australia's Patricia Hackett Poetry Prize, 1997 the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (Poetry Section) for 'The Wheels of Harma' - a collection of war poems, and publication in 2003 his autobiography 'My Days Were Fauve'. Shirley died in 2009 and Alec in 2010.
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