Soldier profiles

Name : ACHESON, ALFRED ALLEN
Service Number : VX22738
Date of Birth : 20/01/1906
Place of Birth : BRADFORD, ENGLAND
Known as :
Occupation on Enlistment : LABOURER
Date of Enlistment : 06/06/1940
Locality on Enlistment : BIRDWOODTON, VIC
Place of Enlistment : CAULFIELD, VIC
Next of Kin : ACHESON, MONA
Rank (at time of discharge / death) : PRIVATE
Service : ARMY
Final Posting : 2/2 PIONEER BATTALION
Position / Platoon / Company (as 2/2 Pioneer) (date / details) :
Unit Transfers / Promotions (date / details) :
Theatres of War : SYRIA, JAVA
Actions :
Wounded (date / details) :
Discharged : 12/07/1946
Date Died : N/A
Community Roll of Honour : N/A
Buried Location / Memorial (P.O.W., D.O.W., K.I.A.) : N/A
K.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
D.O.W. (date / details) : N/A
M.I.A. (date / details) : N/A
P.O.W. (location/s) : JAVA
Died P.O.W. (date / details) : NO
P.O.W. Camps (details) : THAILAND
Recovered P.O.W. (location/s) : THAILAND
Honours and Gallantry : None for display
Applicable Australian War Memorial circulars : Australian War Memorial B-JAVA-0002 Missing & POW Circular
References found (entries & photos) : National Archives of Australia (Barcode 6227591 [DIGITISED]), WW2 Nominal Roll, Australian War Memorial, Past article (size 598kB)

Background : Married to Mona Acheson.

Service & personal summary At enlistment : married. No previous military experience. At discharge : height 5 feet 7 inches, brown eyes, dark complexion, dark brown hair. Marital status : married. Dependent children : 1 16 years & older. Full time war service : A.I.F. 06/06/1940 to 12/07/1946 which included 2228 days active service (274 days within Australia & 1648 days overseas). Operational service : Middle East & Java area (embarked from Australia 07/04/1941, disembarked in Australia 11/10/1945). War badge no. 241700. Discharge certificate no. 549925.

Service record
06/06/1940 Taken on strength Recruit Reception Depot Caulfield, Victoria.
07/06/1940 Posted to 2/2 Pioneer Battalion Puckapunyal, Seymour, Victoria.
08/06/1940 Appointment is Specialty Group II Cooks 7/- day.
17/06/1940 Attending Cooking Course Southern Command Puckapunyal, Seymour, Victoria.
07/04/1941 Embarked Sydney, New South Wales on H.M.S. Queen Mary (H.M.T. N.N.).
03/05/1941 Disembarked Middle East.
29/08/1941 Evacuated from 2/2 Pioneer Battalion to 2/4 Field Ambulance with Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (P.U.O.), Sandfly fever, abscess right calf.
01/09/1941 Evacuated from 2/4 Field Ambulance to 1 Australian Corps Rest Station.
07/09/1941 Discharged from 1 Australian Corps Rest Station and returned to unit.
07/09/1941 Rejoined unit from 1 Australian Corps Rest Station Middle East.
31/01/1942 Embarked Middle East on S.S. Orcades.
18/02/1942 Disembarked Batavia, Java.
07/03/1942 Reported missing in action, Java.
30/04/1942 Reported missing in action, Java and transferred to X list.
16/12/1942 Reported missing in action believed prisoner of war.
25/08/1943 Reported prisoner of war.
22/12/1943 Reported interned Thailand camp.
24/09/1945 Embarked Singapore on M.V. Highland Chieftain.
11/10/1945 Disembarked Sydney, New South Wales.
13/10/1945 Marched into General Details Depot, Victoria from General Details Depot New South Wales Lines of Communication area.
15/11/1945 Admitted 115 Australian General Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne, Victoria with lumbar sacral fibrosis.
06/07/1946 Marched out to Australian Military Forces Discharge Depot.
12/07/1946 Discharged.