Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Alexander James McMillan was born at Willowie, son of Charles and Margaret (nee Ward) McMillan, who owned Sect 136, Hundred of Willowie until 1922. Alexander was working as a shop assistant in Petersburgh (Peterborough) where he was living with his family when he enlisted. Alexander was one of three cousins from Willowie to enlist, Thomas Vincent Ward, (son of Peter Ward, brother of Alexander’s mother Margaret) and Ivor Millan Garnett, (son of Charles’ sister Mary Ellen Garnett nee McMillan) all enlisted during 1916.
Alexander enlisted on the 2 March 1916 at Kadina. His previous military service had been 12 months with the 24th Light Horse. He enlisted as a Private with the 32 Battalion, 7 Reinforcements. He was 23 years of age, 5’3” (160cm) tall, and weighed 148lb (67kg) and had a dark complexion, with grey eyes and black hair. His next of kin was his father, Charles McMillan, and his religion was Roman Catholic.
He embarked from Adelaide on the 27 June 1916 on the HMAT A57 ‘Malakuta’ and disembarked at Devonport England on the 22 August 1916. Following training at Larkhill he proceeded overseas to France on the 11 November 1916 as part of the reinforcements required for rebuilding the 32 Battalion. “The 32nd Battalion was involved at Fromelles on 19 July 1916, having only entered the front-line trenches 3 days previously. The attack was a disastrous introduction to battle for the 32nd - it suffered 718 casualties, almost 75 per cent of the battalion's total strength, but closer to 90 per cent of its actual fighting strength, and although it still spent periods in the front line, the 32nd played no major offensive role for the rest of the year”. https://www.awm.gov.au
Alexander was one of the reinforcements who took part in the rebuilding of the 32 Battalion joining them in the field on the 25 November 1916. It was bitterly cold, wet and boggy, and on the 2 January 1917, he was admitted to the rest station with chilblains. He also suffered from facial neuralgia later in January, but spent much of 1917 in the field with the battalion.
“After spending a bitter winter undertaking defensive duties on the Somme during early 1917 the battalion took part in the operations pursuing the German forces as they retreated towards the Hindenburg Line, but found itself in the flank protection role during the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May. On 26 September 1917, the battalion was heavily committed to the fighting around Polygon Wood near Ypres in Belgium during the Battle of Passchendaele, again they were employed in a support role. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32nd_Battalion_(Australia)
Alexander was able to take leave to England for 10 days in 1917 and again in 1918. The battalion was involved in the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, then continued to press the retreating Germans into September. Alexander’s battalion fought its last major action of the war in September/October 1918 when two Australian divisions and two American divisions attacked the Hindenburg Line across the St Quentin Canal tunnel. After the Armistice, Alexander took his final 2 weeks leave in Paris in February 1919, and within a month he was returned to England in preparation for his return to Australia on the 15 June 1919. He embarked on the HT ‘Port Lyttleton’ arriving back in Australia on the 5 August 1919. He was discharged from the AIF on the 21 September 1919 in Adelaide. Alexander did not marry and died at the age of 45 years on the 26 March 1938 at Port Augusta. He is buried at the West Terrace Catholic Cemetery, Adelaide. The attached news item indicates the respect in which he was held.

Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA: 1914 - 1954) Fri 1 Apr 1938 Page 1
DEATH OF MR A. J. MCMILLAN
COMRADES PAY LAST RESPECTS
RESIDENT OF TOWN FOR MANY YEARS
It is with deep regret that we report the death on Saturday last of Mr. A. J. McMillan, who had been a well-known and highly respected resident of Port Augusta for many years. In the article printed below, which was contributed by one of the deceased's soldier friends, the last respects paid by his comrades is graphically described.
Tramp, tramp, tramp, the rhythmical measured tread as of marching feet! Marching men! Was I still dreaming, or was I slowly waking to the realisation that men were marching. Where am I? Surely it is Sunday morning! What have marching men to do with a peaceful Sunday morning in our quiet little town? Hastily springing out of bed and going to the window, I saw a sight which made my blood tingle and a feeling of pride in the manhood of our country surged through me. Marching men indeed it was.
With the steady tread of trained men, they came. Grim-faced and solemn. Then I realised what it all meant. "Poor old Mac." I heard a friend say, and I heard others mutter "He was a man;" "one of the best."
I knew that McMillan, "Mac" to his numerous friends, was gone.
A soldier and man; and his soldier cobbers, supported by some of the younger men of the community, were accompanying him on his last march. What a sight! What a man Mac must have been to get these men to parade at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning. What feelings of comradeship prompted these old soldiers and the men of a younger generation, too, to show their respect in such a way!
Unwilling to miss more than I had already done of such a spectacle, I hastily dressed and followed this procession of grim-faced men who were preceding their dead comrade, aye, comrade and true friend to many of them. On they went, tramp, tramp, tramp, led by four of the most stalwart of their number, heads erect, shoulders back, marching as they had marched twenty years before.
At his old home they left him, the old home where he had made so many friends. "Party Halt!" Their ranks divided, one line of men each side of the road, heads bare, eyes moist, they watched Mac pass between them. "Goodbye Mac," "goodbye old fellow," they said. Au-revoir Mac, we will meet at the last Great Reveille.
The remains were taken to Adelaide for burial on Sunday.

Article and story reproduced from "DIGGERS FROM THE DUST - Honouring the service personnel of the Willowie and Amyton Area" by Di Barrie & Andrew Barrie, 2018
ISBN 978-0-646-99224-2