WITHNELL, Alex
| Service Numbers: | WX1992, WX1992, |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 April 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Australian Depot Battalion |
| Born: | Roebourne, Western Australia, 5 February 1906 |
| Home Town: | Southern Cross, Yilgarn, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Port Augusta, South Australia, 14 April 1985, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Stirling North Cemetery (Port Augusta), S.A. |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 24 Apr 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX1992, Australian Depot Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1940: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX1992,, 2nd/11th Infantry Battalion, embarked Fremantle for Gourock, Scotland | |
| 5 Jan 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX1992, embarked Glasgow for Middle East | |
| 2 Nov 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX1992, Depot Battalion , embarked Middle East for Fremantle on board HT Oranje – ‘Medically Unfit’ | |
| 31 Jan 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lance Corporal, WX1992, Australian Depot Battalion |
Help us honour Alex Withnell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Lance Corporal Alex Withnell (Service No:WX1992) enlisted in the Army on 24 April 1940 (giving his DoB as 1906 rather than 1904) and was attached to 2/10 Battalion on 10 May 1940 when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for Gourock, Scotland. In June that year he transferred to 72 Battaliaon - Graded Specialist Blacksmith - and on 5 June 1941, embarked fro Glasgow for the Middle East. Lance Corporal Withnell served with 2/32 Battalion in the Middle East, where he was Boarded as Medically Unfit, having suffered a Cerebral Thrombosis and Epilepsy. Lance Corporal Withnell embarked from the Middle East for Fremantle on 2 November 1941 on board HT Oranje, and was attached to Depot Battalion at Discharge on 31 January 1942. His two older brothers - Sydney and Algy - served in WWI (Algy was KiA in France in 1918).
Alick was born in Roebourne, WA in 1904, the third of four children of Robert (Harding) Harding Dewitt Withnell (b1864 at Nicol Bay, Roebourne, WA) and Daisy Ethel Stanbridge (b1870 in Brisbane, QLD). Harding was a Squatter in Roebourne in 1896 when he and Daisy married. They lived in Roebourne, Clackline via Northam, Marradong via Boddington and Perth, where they raised their family and Harding was a Station Manager, Farmer and Fruit Grower. In the 1920s they moved to Mundijong, where Harding was an Orchardist before moving to Northam in the early 1930s where he was a Poultry Farmer, retiring to Perth in the late 1930s.
Alick was a Timber Worker in Perth where, in 1926 he married Rhoda Emma Smith (b1906 in London, England) - Rhoda had immigrated in 1913, arriving in Fremantle, WA on board the Ajana. Alick and Rhoda lived in Perth and Southern Cross where Alick was a Labourer. Following his Discharge, he worked in Southern Cross as a Roads Board Employee, before he and Rhoda settled in Perth in the late 1940s. Alick worked as a Carpenter and Builder in Perth, and from the mid 1950s does not appear on any official records, until his death in Port Augusta, South Australia in 1985 (BDM SA). Rhoda remained in Perth, where she died in 1987.
Click images to start slideshow.