DAWSON, Alexander
| Service Number: | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 12th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston Tasmania, 1896 |
| Home Town: | Scottsdale, Dorset, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 19 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Apr 1915: | Involvement Private, 2021, 12th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 1915: | Embarked Private, 2021, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Adelaide |
Help us honour Alexander Dawson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Father 69 Pte. Russell Harry Aubrey Dawson, 69. 40th Bn. Australian Inf. Killed in action 20th July, 1917. Kandahar Farm Cemetery Neuve-Eglise.
2021 Private Alexander Dawson 12th Battalion was only 19 years and 2 months of age when he enlisted in Tasmania in February 1915. Due to his youth, he had to have his parents consent, and he produced the following letter signed by his parents, “My dear son, With reference to the request of the military authorities for our consent to you (Alexander Dawson) going to the war in defence of King and country, we hereby give our consent and trust God may use you to defend the Grand old flag of British liberty and that it may please Him to bring you safely back to us when this war is over.” Letter dated February 1915, and signed by Russell and Catherine Dawson.
Alexander served on Gallipoli briefly, only lasting about 3 weeks, in June 1915, before he was evacuated with diarrhea and dysentery. He was sent to France in 1916, and was reported missing then killed in action at during the battles for Mouquet Farm from the 19th to the 22nd of August 1916.
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