Alan Dexter PALMER

PALMER, Alan Dexter

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 10 December 1914, Mount Gambier, South Australia
Last Rank: Lieutenant
Last Unit: 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron
Born: Mount Gambier, South Australia, 15 January 1895
Home Town: Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Draper
Died: Died of wounds, Romani, Egypt, 6 August 1916, aged 21 years
Cemetery: Kantara War Memorial Cemetery
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

10 Dec 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, Mount Gambier, South Australia
6 Jul 1915: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant
14 Sep 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: ''
14 Sep 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Ballarat, Adelaide
8 Dec 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment, ANZAC / Gallipoli
24 Mar 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 9th Light Horse Regiment
23 Jul 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron
3 Aug 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron , Battle of Romani, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 3rd Australian Machine Gun Squadron awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1916-08-06
5 Aug 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron , Battle of Romani, GSW (chest)

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Biography contributed by John Edwards

"LIEUT. A. D. PALMER DIED OF WOUNDS

A telegram was received on Wednesday afternoon by Mr. W. S. Palmer, of the Commercial Mills, conveying the unexpected and sad intelligence that his son, Lieut. Alan Dexter Palmer, of the 9th Light Horse, had died of wounds in a hospital in Egypt on August 6. The information was all the more distressing because no intimation had been previously received that he had been injured. It appears that he was wounded in one of the severe, but victorious battles with the Turks at Katia, near the Suez Canal. Letters were received from him on Tuesday night, stating that he was well. Lieut. Palmer was 21½ years of age. He was born at Mount Gambler, and lived here till he enlisted late in 1914. In January, 1915, he left for camp, and while there attended an Officers' School of instruction for a month, was then transferred to the Morphettville camp for a month, and afterwards the Mitcham camp for a similar period, and left Adelaide for Egypt on Sept. 14, 1915. While he was in the Mltcham camp an order was issued that no officer under 23 years of age was to be allowed to go to the front. That delayed him for a short time, and every man in his company, by whom he was much liked, signed a petition praying the Commandant to allow him to go. The petition was granted. At the same time his men presented him with an officer's riding whip. When he left Adelaide he was a second lieutenant, but while on service he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He went to Gallipoli before last Christmas, and remained there till the evacuation, when the Light Horse were transferred to the Suez Canal. Lieut. Palmer was popular with his companions here as a youth and young man, and led an exemplary life. A great deal of sympathy is expressed for his parents in their bereavement." - from the Mount Gambier Border Watch 09 Sep 1916 (nla.gov.au)

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