Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Young Alf Latcham of Wooroolin, barely 18 years old, was so keen, that he waited till his parents left the farm for a couple of weeks, caught the train to the recruiting office in Maryborough where he enlisted, giving his age as 21.
On discovery, his father protested vigorously which resulted in an entry on young Alf’s service records to the effect that he had willfully made a false reply to a question put to him by the recruiting officer that he was 21, where in fact, he was 18 years & 4 months as he well knew. He was fined 10/- (I have researched hundreds of service records of WW1 soldiers. Many put their ages up, or even down, but I had never seen an entry of admonishment such as Alf’s)
His father relented and Alf joined the 41st Battalion, ending up in The Somme in France attached to the 13th Machine Gun Company. He was wounded in action in the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, under the command of General John Monash, a battle which marked a turning point in the war and brought it to a close in November 1918. He returned to Australia in 1919, under the threat of a rapidly spreading pandemic, recovering from his injuries, grieving for his mates who were fallen and then attempted to resume a normal life…