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Alan Bayley Skerritt - Information

Alan's father, Samuel, came to the Campbelltown area in the late 1890s with his second wife, Rhoda Selina. Here, Alan was born in Ingleburn on the 11th of October 1897. They later lived in a residence on Lithgow St, known as Richmond Villa. In the 1900s, Samuel relocated the family to Granville where they resided at The Avenue. Here, Alan began working as a typewriter mechanic. In 1915, Alan watched his older brother, Walter, enlist in the military, and return home from war service badly injured in late 1916. When Alan was 19 years old, he felt it was his turn to serve his country. He signed up in Sydney on the 26th of May 1917. He trained at the Royal Showground Camp and was made a Sapper with the Light Motor Wireless Section. He then embarked Sydney on the 19th of December 1917 upon the HMAT Ulysses.

Alan arrived in Suez, Egypt, in mid January 1918. The following month, he left Egypt for Bombay, and was then stationed to Basra. A few weeks later, Alan joined the ANZAC Wireless Squadron in Baghdad. He served with the Wireless Section for the remainder of the war and well into 1919. On the 1st of December 1919, Alan began his voyage home on the SS Medic. He was discharged in February 1920 and returned to his family. Alan also served as a Lieutenant in the Australian Army during the Second World War.