Lang, Alexander John (230/3333)
Place of Birth: Urana, NSW
Age: 36 years
Enlistment Details: Wednesday, 9 September 1914 – Broadmeadows, VIC
Service Number: 230/3333 view online service record
Address:
44 Beach Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Next of Kin:
John Lang (father)
Dow Street
South Melbourne, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Tuesday, 22 December 1914
Ship: HMAT Ulysses A38
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 14th Infantry Battalion
Fate:
RTA: Thursday, 2 January 1919
Discharged: Thursday, 3 April 1919
2 Comments
Peter Bakker
I am keen to hear from anyone who knows ANYTHING about this man and or his family both before during and after WW1.
I have a copy of his WW1 service records and name on the embarkation roll but the rest remains a mystery to me. I believe he landed at Gallipoli on the 26th April 1915 (The 14th Bn did not take part in the initial landing on the 25th). There are no AWM service records what happened to him to do with the landing until a notation that he was evacuated and transported on 1st August 1915to No.1 AGH in Alexandra, Egypt due to deafness.
Please contact me via email – Happy to share info.
David Thompson
Hi Peter,
Firstly, visitors to the site cannot see your email address and I would not advise putting it on a public website such as this. That said, people can reply to your comment and you can check back to see any responses or they can contact PMHPS directly and we can pass the response on to you.
In my experience the service record does not mention details of a soldier’s operational duties. Rather it records movements between various war locations, assignment to a different unit, hospitalisation, misdemeanours, acts of gallantry, etc.
With Alexander John Lang his record includes various bouts of venereal disease, drunkiness, obscene language, being absent without leave AWOL, his return to Australia in 1915 and subsequent return to Egypt in 1916, he was wounded in Belgium in 1917 and eventually returned to Australia in early 1919.
His father lived in Dow St, South Melbourne when Alexander John Lang enlisted and by December 1917 he was living at 18 Yarra St, South Yarra. A note on p36 of Lang’s service record recording information from his sister, Janet Mitchell saying that their father is staying with her and could not call the authorities as he is paralysed.
Lang was discharged on 3 April 1919. His record does not record any details of a an address after is discharge or any further correspondence with him or his family.
It is worth contacting the AWM to see if there is a Battalion diary or similar that may shed light on his war service.
Good luck with your search.