PALMER, Alan Dexter
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 December 1914, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, 15 January 1895 |
| Home Town: | Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Mount Gambier High School |
| Occupation: | Draper |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Romani, Egypt, 6 August 1916, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Kantara War Memorial Cemetery F 405A |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Mount Gambier High School Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Dec 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, Mount Gambier, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Jul 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant | |
| 14 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Sep 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Ballarat, Adelaide | |
| 8 Dec 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 24 Mar 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron | |
| 3 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron , Battle of Romani, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 3rd Australian Machine Gun Squadron awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1916-08-06 | |
| 5 Aug 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron , Battle of Romani, GSW (chest) |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Graeme Roulstone
Lieutenant Alan Dexter PALMER (Died of wounds 6 August 1916)
DUTY BRAVELY DONE SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS
Alan Dexter Palmer was born at Mount Gambier on 15 January 1895, the son of William Simmons Palmer. He was enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 9 October 1908 by his father, William Palmer, miller’s assistant, of Church Street, Mount Gambier, and left the school on 24 June 1910 (1)
He enlisted (20, draper, single, Methodist) on 6 June 1915, naming his father, William Simmons Palmer of Mount Gambier as next of kin. He was presented with a fountain pen from the members of the Methodist Young Men's Class on Sunday 5 September while back in Mount Gambier on final leave (2) and commissioned as a second lieutenant prior to embarking from Adelaide on the ‘Ballarat’ on 14 September 1915. He joined the 9th Light Horse on Gallipoli on 8 December 1915, not long before Australian troops were evacuated and subsequently disembarked at Alexandria in Egypt on 27 December.
On 24 March 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant. He attended a course of instruction between 25 May and 17 June 1916 and was seconded to the 3rd Light Horse Machine Gun Squadron on 23 July. He suffered a bullet wound to his chest on 5 August 1916 at Romani, died of wounds the following day and was buried to the north-west end of Bir El Nagid. His father received a letter from Lieutenant Hartley Williams regarding the death of his son:
He was badly hit on the first day of our big fight with the Turks at a place called Hamisah. I did not see him after he was wounded, as I was in a different position in the fight. He died early the following morning … His grave is in a large palm grove, and a nice cross has been erected. The … Church of England padre with the brigade, was with him until near the end, and conducted the burial service (3).
Later his remains (and those of two others buried with him) were exhumed and reburied in Kantara War Cemetery, Egypt.
Reference List
1. Mount Gambier High School Admissions Register, 85.
2. Border Watch, 8 September 1915, p.3.
3. Border Watch, 1 November 1916, p.4.
Published in Ours: the origins and early years of Mount Gambier High School and Old Scholars who served in the Great European War by Graeme Roulstone
Biography contributed by John Edwards
"LIEUT. A. D. PALMER DIED OF WOUNDS.
A telegram was received on Wednesday afternoon by Mr. W. S. Palmer, of the Commercial Mills, conveying the unexpected and sad intelligence that his son, Lieut. Alan Dexter Palmer, of the 9th Light Horse, had died of wounds in a hospital in Egypt on August 6. The information was all the more distressing because no intimation had been previously received that he had been injured. It appears that he was wounded in one of the severe, but victorious battles with the Turks at Katia, near the Suez Canal. Letters were received from him on Tuesday night, stating that he was well. Lieut. Palmer was 21½ years of age. He was born at Mount Gambler, and lived here till he enlisted late in 1914. In January, 1915, he left for camp, and while there attended an Officers' School of instruction for a month, was then transferred to the Morphettville camp for a month, and afterwards the Mitcham camp for a similar period, and left Adelaide for Egypt on Sept. 14, 1915. While he was in the Mltcham camp an order was issued that no officer under 23 years of age was to be allowed to go to the front. That delayed him for a short time, and every man in his company, by whom he was much liked, signed a petition praying the Commandant to allow him to go. The petition was granted. At the same time his men presented him with an officer's riding whip. When he left Adelaide he was a second lieutenant, but while on service he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He went to Gallipoli before last Christmas, and remained there till the evacuation, when the Light Horse were transferred to the Suez Canal. Lieut. Palmer was popular with his companions here as a youth and young man, and led an exemplary life. A great deal of sympathy is expressed for his parents in their bereavement." - from the Mount Gambier Border Watch 09 Sep 1916 (nla.gov.au)
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