Diana Wentworth shares the story of Alexander John McNaughton, who served in both WWI and WWII.

Alexander John McNaughton was born in Abbotsford in 1895. He apprenticed as a turner and fitter to the family company, HA Wentworth P/L, working there for 18 years, pre- and post-war.

Alexander enlisted on 21 August 1914 aged 18, No. 100, in the 2nd Field Company Royal Australian Engineers.

He embarked on HMAT Orvieto on 21 October 1914, travelling via Cairo, Alexandria, and Lemnos. His company eventually landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915.

While there, he suffered from shock from explosion and dysentery before being diagnosed with paratyphoid fever. He was shipped to Malta, then to a military hospital at the University in Birmingham UK, where his condition was listed as ‘dangerously ill’.

On his recovery, he was posted to France and later recommended for bravery awards four times. He was awarded the Military Medal (believed to be the first Anzac to receive an award for bravery in the field).

Returning to Australia after five years abroad, he married Jesse Eugenie Walker in 1920 and built the family home at Ivanhoe. He was the father of three children: Alice, Lorna and Ian.

He developed his own firm, Eureka Engineering, in Abbotsford and taught welding at Melbourne Technical College two nights a week. His hobbies included repairing cars and woodworking.

He went on to enlist in WWII, and was stationed in New Guinea until repatriated with tropical ulcers to Ballarat Hospital, and then to the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg. He died 29 April 1946.

Alex kept diaries of his WWI experiences in Gallipoli and France. He also took photographs with his forbidden camera. The original handwritten diaries are with the Australian Army Museum of Military Engineering, Moorebank, NSW. They express the initial excitement of a great adventure ahead and then the cruel reality of the Gallipoli Landing.

His story exemplifies the Australian Digger: courageous, loyal to king, country and mates, innovative with his engineering experience, and prepared when necessary to disobey orders, with a touch of the cheeky larrikin.