SWEETMAN, Donald Frederick
| Service Number: | SX9821 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 July 1940, Adelaide, SA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Victor Harbor, SA, 21 November 1917 |
| Home Town: | Karoonda, Karoonda East Murray, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Victor Harbor and Inman Valley Public Schools, Karoonda Area School |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Egypt, 19 July 1942, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt Plot: 3.B. 26. |
| Tree Plaque: |
Lower Inman Valley Memory Grove
|
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Karoonda Roll of Honor, Lower Inman Valley Memory Grove, Victor Harbor Newland Memorial Congregational Church Memorial Window |
World War 2 Service
| 29 Jul 1940: | Involvement Private, SX9821, 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Adelaide, SA | |
| 29 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, SX9821, 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion, Adelaide, SA |
Help us honour Donald Frederick Sweetman's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Mr Frederick Thomas and the late Lyida Anne SWEETMAN of Karoonda, late of Victor Harbor. Educated at Victor Harbor and Inman Valley Public Schools, Donald played football and cricket and took an interest in all stock and farm life. Enlisting in July 1940 he left for overseas in April 1941 and spent his 21st birthday in Palestine, after serving several months in Tobruk. He also saw service in Syria, Egypt and died of wounds in Egypt on 19th July 1942.
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
MEMORIAL TREE FOR
SOLDIER.
SHORTLY after his son was killed in action at El Alamein in July of last year, Mr. F. T. Sweetman, of Karoonda, expressed a wish that a tree be planted in this district in memory of his boy. The Sweetman family are among the oldest settled in the South, the great grandfather of the deceased soldier having settled at Inman Valley in 1853. On Friday last a tree was planted adjacent the Lower Inman Hall, and the impressive ceremony was largely attended ; returned soldiers from the last war being strongly in evidence. The chairman of the district council of Encouter Bay (Mr. G. Batlye) presided. Appropriate remarks were made by the chairman, Col. H. M. Parsons, who planted the tree, Lieut.-Commander W. Gregory, and Mr. F. C. Keen. The inscription on the board placed alongside the tree is as follows : "In memoriam. 5X9831 Private Donald Frederick Sweetman, killed in action 19/7/42."
After the ceremony the children attending the Middle Inman and Back Valley schools each placed a bunch of violets around the tree. Similar expressions of remembrance were in evidence fiom the Victor Harbour sub-branch of the R.S.S. and A.I.L.A., and residents of Iman Valley.
Victor Harbor Times Friday 6 August 1943 page 3
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