SPOONER, Alfred Thomas
| Service Number: | 57913 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 January 1918 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 9th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Thanes Creek via Goondiwindi, Queensland, 4 January 1900 |
| Home Town: | Goondiwindi, Goondiwindi, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | 31 December 1960, aged 60 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Jan 1918: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 57913, 1st to 8th (QLD) Reinforcements | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jul 1918: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 57913, 1st to 8th (QLD) Reinforcements, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Nov 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 57913, 9th Infantry Battalion | |
| 19 Nov 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 57913, 9th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Alfred Thomas Spooner (1900-1960)
Alfred Thomas Spooner was among one of the last drafts of reinforcements to embark for service in WW1. As one of the youngest soldiers to enlist, he didn't quite get there in time to take part in actual combat, having completed his preparatory training after the cessation of hostilities.
Alfred was born near Goondiwindi Queensland on the 4th January 1900.
He served in the school cadets and enlisted as soon as he could, just after his eighteenth birthday, and despite the fact that by then the war had been raging for nearly four years and had taken a fearsome toll of the young men sent to fight.
He was assigned to a reninforcement darft which left on HMAT BORDA on one of the last voyages of its kind, on 17 July 1918.
He disembarked in the UK in September 1918, by which time the AIF was entering its final phase of combat near the Hindenburg Line in north eastern France . But Alfred had to undergo preparatory training before being assigned to the front. That was undertaken on Britain's Salisbury Plain near the village of Fovant, by the 5th Training Battalion. He was allocated to the 9th Battalion on the 29th November 1918. The war was over before his began.
With hostilities concluded the process of demobilisation began. Newly arrived personnel would have borne the burden of all of the routine administrative tasks to free the 'old timers' for return to Australia.
Alfred had to wait until June 1919 for his turn. He was awarded the British War Medal, but not the Victory Medal becasue he had not rendered Active Service as at the declaration of the Armistice.
Steve Larkins Aug 2019
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