MACK, William
| Other Name: | Bruce, Boswell - Alias |
|---|---|
| Service Number: | Q199887 |
| Enlisted: | 6 January 1940, Brisbane, Qld. |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Australian Army Ordnance Corps (Northern Command) |
| Born: | St Andrews, Scotland, 17 October 1892 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Book-keeper |
| Died: | Auxiliary Hospital, Brisbane, 28 October 1945, aged 53 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 6 Jan 1940: | Enlisted | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Jan 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, Q199887, Australian Army Ordnance Corps (Northern Command), Brisbane, Qld. | |
| 5 Sep 1940: | Discharged Corporal, Q199887 | |
| 5 Sep 1940: | Discharged |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Corporal-Australian Army-1 D R O NORTHERN COMMAND
Service Number Q199887
Date of Enlistment 06 Jan 1940
Place of Enlistment BRISBANE, QLD
Date of Discharge 05 Sep 1940
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Boswell Bruce was born in either 1886 or on the 17th of October 1892 at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Very little is known about Boswell Bruce's early life, he married his fiancée Christina Dicks MacGregor in 1909 and had a daughter Agnes Lillian Bruce in 1916 (Agnes served in the RAAF in the Second World War from 1944-1946). He fought in the Great War with the Gordon Highlanders and the Scottish Highlanders in France and in Italy, between 1916 to 1918, being awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He came out to Australia sometime after the Great War with his wife and daughter, firstly settling in Sydney Australia.
Very little is known about Boswell's movements in Australia from the 1920's to 1935. His occupation was recorded as an indent agent and lived in George Street, Greenwich Point. He responded to a Newspaper article on the 29th of February 1936 while he was living in Mt Hawthorn, Western Australia. From there he disappears and resurfaces as Mr William Mack in the late 1930's in Brisbane, enlisting into the Army on the 6th of January 1940. He served in Brisbane as a Corporal until being declared medically unfit and discharged on the 5th of September 1940. During the early 1940's his wife Christina was placing advertisements in various newspapers trying to locate her husband. Boswell died on the 28th of October 1945, he was survived by his wife and daughter. There is a notation in his Australian World War Two file from October 1952 where his daughter had found out his alias and is enquiring of her father's war service for her mother's financial benefit.
References –
NAA Website - NLA Trove Website - Sam Cox, PM, March 2023
BRUCE, Mr. Boswell (known as William Mack), late 1st A.I.F.— Relatives and friends of Mr. Boswell Bruce are advised that his Funeral is appointed to leave This Monday, for the Crematorium arriving 1 p.m. METROPOLITAN FUNERAL SERVICES.
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