Alfred James (Alf) Rowe

  General Notes:

Service Record
Name ROWE, ALFRED JAMES 
Service Australian Army 
Service Number VX142343 
Date of Birth 26 Aug 1923
Place of Birth KORUMBURRA, VIC 
Date of Enlistment 26 Jun 1943 
Locality on Enlistment ARAWATA, VIC 
Place of Enlistment IN THE FIELD, VIC 
Next of Kin ROWE, W 
Date of Discharge 3 Jul 1946
Rank Lance Sergeant 
Posting at Discharge 22 Australian Infantry Battalion 
WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display
Prisoner of War No 

Alfred James Rowe was in a hurry to see the world and couldn’t wait for his mother to get to hospital. He was born in a car at the end of Wilsons Road, Korumburra just near a roadside cairn. He was a premature baby and was so small he was brought home in a shoe box. He was the 10th child in a family of five girls and five boys
The Rowe family had their farm at Arawata and Alf grew up here. He wagged school one day and hid in one of the sheds, however his grandmother caught him coming out. He also wagged Sunday school a few times. When he left school he worked on the family farm. He helped with the fencing and fern cutting as well as the day to day activites.
One day he was cutting wood for the fire and the South Down Ram head butted him. Alf decided that if the ram kept it up he would fix it. So when it tried to butt the next time he hit it with the back of his axe. He fixed it alright, the ram fell down dead.
Alf joined the Army in 1939 when he was only 17. He served in New Guinea and spent his 21st birthday there.
Alf’s first car was a 3 wheeled one, but it wasn’t reliant and was for ever breaking down. The next car was a Ford precept. The brakes weren’t very reliant and to stop when he got home he would go two laps around his grandmother’s house and had a heap of bags to run into to. One day he was on the road when he came accross a flock of sheep, as usual the bakes didn’t work so he ran into them.
Alf had a good singing voice, he could also play the mouth organ. Alf loved to yarn and tell jokes. He was always the life of the party.
In 1966 Alf married Bev Stephens and they had a son and daughter.
Alf retired from the farm and moved from Arawata to Princess Street, Korumburra. He kept himself busy and worked at the Korumburra Hospital. He hated when daylight savings started and finished as it was his job to change all the clocks. He also worked for the funeral service and assisted at funerals.
Bev and Alf loved going on Bus trips and made quite a few all over Australia. However, as he got older Alf started to lose his memory and sadly changed from the bright, chirpy person every knew and loved into a quiet person whose favorite occupation was to sit on the front verandah and watch the world go by. Winter and Summer alike he would be there. A school was opposite and he loved to sit and watch the activites there. He hated going on the trips, all he wanted to do was to stay at home. He was eventually diagnosed with Alziemers.
Bev and Alf had been married for 41 years when Alf died on the 4th May 2008.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Birth Certificate: (23688/22).

Alfred married Private

  Marriage Notes:

Methodist Church.