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Australia

Alec ‘Saayid’ Aleman (QX18881; Q36539) was born in 1917 in Mackay, Queensland, and worked as a cane cutter in a local sugar cane field. Alec was a single man also worked in a mine, rode horses, mustered cattle. He was a beautiful vocalist with a soothing voice and an accomplished guitarist. Among his family members and friends, Alec was known for would helping prepare food in the kitchen and welcoming guests. Serving in the army was a great challenge for him.

Alec enlisted 1941 in Mackay and served in the 2/1 Australian Guard Regiment and the 20 Brigade 9th Division of the Australian Army, known as ‘the famous 9th Division’ after outstanding fighting in the ‘desert and jungle’. Even the great German General Rommel called it ‘an elite formation’, and the man who beat him at El Alamein, the British General Montgomery, also denoted it as a ‘magnificent 9th Australian Division’. The Australian 9th Division played a crucial role, destroying the enemy forces in their heavily mined and fortified positions. It took part in a number of battles such as the Siege of Tobruk, and then the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. Alec’s service was in the Middle East from 4 December 1941 to 20 February 1945 which is 1106 days. In early 1943, the brigade was returned to Australia to join the fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific. His service in New Guinea was from 28 July 1943 to 20 November 1944 which is 697 days.

Believing in a cause way beyond himself, Private Alec Aleman fought in a number of the great theatres of war, however, his family evoked, ‘after serving in the war, he rarely spoke about his experience in the war’. He spoke only to his wife of being on ‘the front line in Syria against the German army’. It may have been a very terrifying experience for him being deployed on the heavy front line when Australians and the Allies prevented the establishment of the German presence in Syria and Lebanon. The fight was also against a pro-German Vichy French, winning the first victory in the long-term running in North Africa and Mediterranean. On the ground in the battles of El Alamein, the 9th Division successfully prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt, despite of the ‘storms of 88 mm [German Flak gun] air-burst swept across the battlefield’ causing about 40 per cent of all Australian casualties in the Alamein campaign. Alec’s battalion soon would deploy to the Pacific. He embarked in Cairns per Van Heutz 28 July 1943 and disembarked at Milne Bay in New Guinea, also a place of significant Australian casualties during the battle that was the first significant defeat of Japanese forces on land in the war. Being a tough fighter, Alec did his bit contributing to his battalion successes. Upon returning from New Guinea, he experienced recurring night terrors (un-diagnosed PTSD). Alec Aleman was issued the 1939/45 Star, the Africa Star, the Pacific Star, the War Medal, the Australian Service Medal and the Returned from Active Service Badge.

His family cherished a nice memory of him. Alec was a quiet man, softly spoken, who associated with his family for most of his life, surrounded by a loving family and grandchildren. Talented as Alec, all of his 9 children were musical, as were his grandchildren and great grandchildren. The couple left Mackay approximately 52 years ago and managed a successful Sundo restaurant, in Ballina, New South Wales, before retiring to live in Brisbane where Alec was laid to rest.


From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, 'A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2024