Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

20/08/1914

Place of Enlistment

Kensington NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Alf'

Date of Birth

11/06/1887

Place of Birth

Queanbeyan NSW

Address (at enlistment)

'Ivy Cling', George Street, Queanbeyan NSW

School(s) Attended

Queanbeyan Public School

Occupation

Carter

Next of Kin

Son of Isaac and Rosanna Meech, 'Ivy Cling', George Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Burial Place

No known burial place

Service Number

1148

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

3 Battalion AIF

Died 7 August 1915, Lone Pine, Gallipoli, Turkey

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 37, Canberra ACT
Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
World War 1 Memorial, corner of Lowe St and Farrer Place, Queanbeyan NSW
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honor Queanbeyan Public School, Isabella Street, Queanbeyan NSW
Memorial plaque in porch of Christ Church, Queanbeyan NSW

Alf Meech was born in 1887 in Queanbeyan and was a grandson of Canberra pioneers Joseph and Susan Blundell and related to several long time district families. He worked for the Queanbeyan Age and was engaged to be married when he enlisted in August 1914 in Sydney and served as a Private in A Company, 3rd Battalion. Meech landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was batman to a Lieutenant W.B. Carter. During the Battle of Lone Pine on the Gallipoli peninsula in August 1915, the 3rd Battalion attacked the centre of the Turks at Lone Pine from their position at The Pimple. According to an eyewitness Meech was wounded by a bomb in the trenches on the night of 7 August. He was not evacuated until daybreak and died soon after. It wasn't until June the following year that a Court of Enquiry determined that Meech had been killed in action.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 134 pounds, chest 35 inches, complexion fair, blue eyes, light brown hair, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Files
WWI Nominal Roll http://www.awm.gov.au/nominalrolls/ww1
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Our Queanbeyan 'Boys', Howard & Shearsby, Yass (postcard)
Queanbeyan Age - 9 July 1915, 27 July 1915, 28 January 1916, 16 May 1916, 14 August 1917, 18 December 1923
The Canberra Times - 11 November 1990
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Anguish of Jessie Meech', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial