Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Contributed by Baldock's great granddaughter who attends Birdwood High School

Alec Malcolm Baldock was born on the 13th of November 1916 to Walter Robert Baldock and Elizabeth Thomas Baldock (nee Boyd) (Edmonds Family Forest, 2023). Alec was born in Streaky Bay, South Australia. He grew up on a farm in Wirrulla and went to Wirrulla South Primary School (M. Baldock, 2023). He enjoyed spending his time with horses, training them for horse shows.

When the war started in 1939, Alec Baldock did not think much of it until 1940 when he heard that the Germans had invaded well into France. That’s when he decided to enlist. Alec’s father was not for this decision but was also not going to stop him, and in less than a week Alec was in Adelaide to enlist (Baldock, 1990). After that he went back to Wirrulla for two weeks to marry his wife, Mavis Anderson. They were married on the 3rd of September 1940, one year after the war started (Baldock, 1990).

 His Time at War
Alec Baldock enlisted for war on the 29th of June 1940 (Virtual War Memorial of Australia, 2023) and served in World War 2 in the battles of Greece and Crete. He was an Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineer (Figure 3) with the 2/2 Field Workshops (National Archives of Australia, 2023). He was appointed corporal on the 3 May 1941 (NAA, 2023).

On 8 May 1941 he was admitted to hospital for measles and pneumonia (NAA). The measles caused him to also get pneumonia which was the main thing keeping him unwell. The measles caused him to be so sick he could not walk or talk. Then, at one point, he describes meeting Jesus. “There was Jesus (Peter) at the gate just as we visualise seeing him” (Baldock, 1990). Alec was brought back by his doctor after almost dying. When they arrived at Colombo, Sri Lanka, they decided that his condition was too bad to move him. But by the 27 May 1941 he recovered (NAA, 2023).

On the way to Greece the boats were targeted by enemy planes. These boats were each full of 25,000 tons of TNT, and they also carried many Australian soldiers. Each of these boats were only armed with one gun each and were not in a position to defend themselves from these attacks, making them an easy target (Baldock 1990). This would be a scary situation for anyone, and it takes extreme bravery and courage to get through.

Alec’s boat travelled through the Suez Canal where they then got off at El Ballah, Egypt and travelled to Alexandria (Baldock 1990). After taking part in training at Alexandria he went to Greece, where he spent a lot of time.

The Greek and Crete campaigns were brutal. During March and April 1941, more than 500,000 Greeks lost their lives during the Axis occupation of Greece and out of the 58,000 Allied service people 2,500 died in an attempt to defend the country (DVA, 2023). Six people in Alec Baldock’s, 2/2nd Field Unit died, 23 were wounded and 56 became prisoners of war (VWMA, 2023).

Four days after Alec Baldock arrived in Pt. Piraeus, Athens, Greece the docks were bombed. Alec had left with his group as they knew this would happen, and he describes what was left as ‘just a total wreck of everything’ (Baldock, 1990). After this, he travelled to Mt Olympus where he was instructed to drive to Athens to collect gear. Whilst he was driving through Greece, he was stopped by some Greek men who asked him to drive them to Athens and despite it being against his orders, in an act of self-sacrifice, he did (Baldock, 1990). Australian soldiers were known for their lack of concern for rules. They instead followed their moral compass, doing things they believed was right. The Anzac’s British peers despised their lack of discipline and respect for hierarchy (AWM, 2023). This is what often made Australian soldiers’ mateship stand out among the rest. Alec Baldock then spent his time in Greece delivering gear to different places (Baldock, 1990).

Whilst Alec Baldock was serving in Greece, Germany attacked, and he was in an every-man for-himself situation (Baldock, 2023). Alec describes tanks and cars driving off the roads on the mountainous territory straight into the ocean in an attempt to render the vehicles and the weaponry in them unusable by Germany. Fortunately, he escaped. Then, unfortunately his knee gave, and he was back in hospital in Israel (Baldock, 2023).

After being discharged he went to Damascus, Syria. This was after the Syrian Campaign had ended. The Syrian campaign lasted from the 9th of June to the 11th of July 1941. The campaign’s purpose was to occupy Syria to prevent Allied bases in Palestine from being in jeopardy (AWM, 2023). It was winter in Syria at the time. Alec describes it being so cold that ice would be forming on their eyelashes, and they would be layering up clothing to escape the cold (Baldock, 1990). These harsh winter conditions were nothing like the weather back in Australia, and it would take a lot of perseverance to get through it.

After Syria, in 1942 Alec Baldock boated to Melbourne and took a train called the Melbourne express to Adelaide. He made sure to send his wife, Mavis a telegram. He made his way home where he met his 2-year-old son Malcolm for the first time (Baldock, 1990).

He was discharged from the army on the 24 June 1943 (VWMA, 2023).

His Life After War
Alec suffered from an asepsis abscess on his liver which gave him a high temperature and forced him to an oxygen machine. He was still in hospital for this the Christmas of 1942 when he made toys for the children in the Children’s Hospital with supplies supplied by the Red Cross. He and two other people in the hospital made 100 toys by

Christmas for the children to enjoy (Baldock, 2023). He and his mates at the hospital would have made these children’s Christmas amazing, not something that everyone can say they’ve done. This kind act shows his generosity, thoughtfulness and mateship with his community, crucial elements of the Anzac spirit.

Something else Alec Baldock did to show his mateship was to talk to his family about his time at war. Just another example of his continued acts of kindness, putting others before himself despite his memories from his time at the war bringing him great distress. Even though the sounds of firecrackers, and other loud, sudden sounds still made him jump, he agreed to talk about it one time (A. Baldock 1990; N. Baldock 2023). This was very brave and shows his care for his family members interest in what happened to him.

He had a strong connection to community, doing many things to engage people in history and fun. He had the boat merry-go-round that he would take to local country shows that children from the time have found memories of. He donated the profits he made from the ride to the show society of the particular show he was at (N. Baldock 2023). This is evidence of pure mateship, giving to others instead of his own gain. He also started the Streaky Bay National Trust Museum. This museum engages the community in the history of the town and technological advancements with artifacts (Streaky Bay, 2023). The museum also contains a section on the war (Streaky Bay, 2023) showing his ongoing efforts to commemorate other veterans who served in the war. Alec received an Albert Einstein International Academy Foundation Cross of Merit and an Order of Australia for his efforts in the museum as well as the other things he spent his time doing.

He additionally did many other things that show Anzac spirit qualities such as attending Anzac Day Ceremonies (figure 11), running in local elections (M. Baldock 2023), heavy involvement in the Lion’s Club (M. Baldock 2023, figure 6), 19 years in the local council (figure 10, figure 6), being supervisor of the fire district for 21 years (figure 9, 6), and curating the oval for 10 years (figure 6).

Alec Baldock died on 28 February 1999. He was buried in the Streaky Bay Cemetery.

Bibliography:

Alec Malcolm BALDOCK. Virtual War Memorial Australia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/602379. [Accessed 11 May 2023]

Greece and Crete. 2020. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.dva.gov.au/recognition/commemorating-all-who-served/memorials/memorials-europe/greece-and-crete#:~:text=In%20March%20and%20April%201941,and%20over%2025%2C000%20taken%20prisoner. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

National Archives of Australia. 2023. Record Search. [ONLINE] Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6395471&S=1&R=0. [Accessed 20 May 2023]

National Trust. 2023. Streaky Bay Museum – National Trust. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/streaky-bay-museum/. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

Streaky Bay | Official Tourism Website. 2023. Streaky Bay National Trust Museum | Streaky Bay | Official Tourism Website. [ONLINE] Available at: https://streakybay.com.au/business/national-trust-museum/. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

Syrian Campaign | Australian War Memorial. 2023. Syrian Campaign | Australian War Memorial. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84669. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

The Edmonds Family Forest. 2023. The Edmonds Family Forest. [ONLINE] Available at: https://daryledmonds.com/index.htm?ssmain=g1/p1642.htm;. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

Tommy: Australian soldiers' relations with the British. Australian War Memorial. 2020. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/1918/soldier/tommy. [Accessed 20 May 2023].

Virtual War Memorial. 2023. Virtual War Memorial. [ONLINE] Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/134. [Accessed 11 May 2023].

Family Sources:
Baldock, Alice. 1990 Alec Baldock Story. Family Archives. [Accessed 21 May 2023]

Baldock, Alice. 1990. Alec Baldock’s War Story 1940 - 1943| transcript. Family Archives. [Accessed 11 May 2023] Baldock, Malcolm. 11/5/23

Baldock, Naomi. 30/4/23

Baldock, Naomi. 2009. Family tree book [Accessed 21 May 2023]