Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Sowter was born on the 8th of August in 1898 in a hospital in Brompton, Adelaide, South Australia. He grew up in Adelaide with his parents, Charles and Ellen Sowter, his older brother Clement Cornelius Selwyn Sowter, and his sister Rose Ellen Barclay. His brother was two years older than him, and had green eyes, and brown hair. Frank Sowter was a British subject who had blue eyes and dark brown hair and was a Roman Catholic. He attended the Christian Brothers' Catholic School in Ovingham.

Before Frank and his brother joined the A.I.F., they worked as dairymen. When Frank joined the AIF in Adelaide, he was 18 years and 4 months old, he weighed 54 kilograms, and was 5 feet 4 inches (163 centimetres) tall. He also stated that he had served in the Marlen Cadets 38 A Sydney, and was declared fit for service on December 20, 1915.

When Frank signed up, he knew a few people through family and/or military connections, for example Arthur Roy Sowter, Charles Selwyn Sowter and Percival Bonnar Sowter. He embarked from Australia as a private on the 11th of April 1916 in a vessel called HMAT A60 Aeneas, and sailed to Egypt. He then embarked from Alexandria, Egypt, to join the British Expeditionary Force in France. 10 days later, he disembarked at Marseilles in France, and waited to be taken on strength. A bit over a month later on the 2nd of August, he was put on duty for the 32nd battalion.

After 5 and a half months of deployment, with one admission to hospital for diarrhoea, he took leave on the 18th of January 1917 and returned 12 days later. He then remained on duty for another 7 months, and took special leave on the 18th of August for 13 days.

After another 2 months of deployment, he caught stomatitis, which is a condition that causes swelling and sores inside the mouth. He was admitted to hospital, where he stayed for 6 days. He was discharged from hospital, but within 18 days, he had caught another mouth related disease called gingivitis, most commonly caused by poor oral hygiene. He was in hospital for about a month.

It was the 3rd of March 1918 when he was absent from the billet after 9 PM. He was punished for 7 days because of this. None the less, his deployment was still active.

Three months later he was caught in an artillery explosion and suffered injuries to his leg. He decided to remain on duty but the following day was briefly treated in hospital for a shell wound to the leg. On the 29th of the 9th 1918, he survived a shot wound to the chin; he was hospitalised and sent to England for treatment.

When he was discharged on the 22nd of October, he was granted furlough. Whilst he was on leave, his brother Clement died of wounds.

He stayed on leave until the war ended less than half a month later, and returned to Adelaide. He was discharged from the AIF on the 24th of April 1919.

In total, he had 2 years and 333 days of service abroad in the countries Egypt, France and Belgium.

Frank Sowter lived until he was 69. He died on September the third, 1967.