"Death takes the loved one from our homes, but never from our hearts"
ALEXANDER, Andrew Ernest
When he was eighteen, he survived the Spanish Flue pandemic, which killed over fifty of his shipmates on the Beramba’s voyage between Cape Town and Sierra Leone.He then joined the cruiser HMAS Sydney in Scotland one week after the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. Sydney returned to Australia in July 1919 after a long passage from England via the Suez Canal. He then drafted to HMAS Brisbane in September 1919 and served in the cruiser for three years. Brisbane was decommissioned on August 4, 1922 and her crew commissioned the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide the following day where Evan spent almost four years, including her 1924 attachment to the RN’s Special Service Squadron. He returned to Tingira in June 1926 for instructional duties until the boys training ship was decommissioned in June 1927. A short stint in HMAS Penguin (ex Encounter) preceded service in HMAS Melbourne, on her decommissioning cruise to England. Melbourne was decommissioned at Portsmouth on April 23, 1928 and her crew transferred to the newly built heavy cruiser HMAS Australia.
Between the world wars, Allan almost drowned after falling overboard in the North Atlantic and would have done so had his captain not braved the precipitous storm, turned the ship around, and rescued him with the help of a life preserver and a rope ladder.
After the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted to the armed merchant cruiser HMS Moreton Bay and active service on the China Station, the East Indies Station and then in the South Atlantic on patrol and convoy escort duties. Moreton Bay was decommissioned in August 1941 and arrangements were made to return her Australian crew via the United States and Canada. In July 1944 Evan was posted to HMAS Ladava, the RAN depot at Milne Bay in New Guinea, for service as the Piermaster. From Ladava, Evan was appointed again to the cruiser Australia as the ship’s boatswain, replacing Boatswain Cyril Deighton who had been injured in the Japanese Kamikaze attacks at Leyte Gulf.
Evan was flown to Seeadler Harbour but missed his connection with Australia by only a matter of hours, the ship having already sailed for operations at Lingayen Gulf. In a twist of fate, Sub Lieutenant Keith Levy, who performed the duties of boatswain during Evan’s absence, was killed in action when Australia was struck by another Kamikaze plane on January 5, 1945.
Allan an went on to serve on HMAS Adelaide in World War II, sailing in convoy with HM Ships Repulse and Hood.
Evan retired from the Navy in 1947, after serving the nation for more than 33 years. He died in Melbourne on the 18th October 2005 aged 106 years
Courtesy of Joy Dalgleish
Source: Navy News 2005
Between the world wars, Allan almost drowned after falling overboard in the North Atlantic and would have done so had his captain not braved the precipitous storm, turned the ship around, and rescued him with the help of a life preserver and a rope ladder.
After the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted to the armed merchant cruiser HMS Moreton Bay and active service on the China Station, the East Indies Station and then in the South Atlantic on patrol and convoy escort duties. Moreton Bay was decommissioned in August 1941 and arrangements were made to return her Australian crew via the United States and Canada. In July 1944 Evan was posted to HMAS Ladava, the RAN depot at Milne Bay in New Guinea, for service as the Piermaster. From Ladava, Evan was appointed again to the cruiser Australia as the ship’s boatswain, replacing Boatswain Cyril Deighton who had been injured in the Japanese Kamikaze attacks at Leyte Gulf.
Evan was flown to Seeadler Harbour but missed his connection with Australia by only a matter of hours, the ship having already sailed for operations at Lingayen Gulf. In a twist of fate, Sub Lieutenant Keith Levy, who performed the duties of boatswain during Evan’s absence, was killed in action when Australia was struck by another Kamikaze plane on January 5, 1945.
Allan an went on to serve on HMAS Adelaide in World War II, sailing in convoy with HM Ships Repulse and Hood.
Evan retired from the Navy in 1947, after serving the nation for more than 33 years. He died in Melbourne on the 18th October 2005 aged 106 years
Courtesy of Joy Dalgleish
Source: Navy News 2005