William Evan Allan
Australian centenarian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Evan Crawford Allan (24 July 1899 – 18 October 2005) was, at the age of 106, one of Australia's last living veterans of the First World War,[1] and the last remaining Australian who saw active service in both world wars.[2][3] Allan was a career sailor in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), serving from 1914 to 1947.
William Evan Allan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 June 1899 |
| Died | 18 October 2005 (aged 106) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Australia |
Branch | Royal Australian Navy |
Service years | 1914–1947 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Conflicts | |
Early life
Allan was born in Bega in the then British colony of New South Wales,[2][3][4] eighteen months before the Commonwealth of Australia came into being.
Naval career
He joined the RAN in March 1914 at the age of fourteen as a boy, second class. When war was declared on 14 August 1914, he was 15 and serving aboard the training ship HMAS Tingira,[5][2] which was docked in Rose Bay, Sydney. He served on board HMAS Encounter until the end of the war,[2][3] and became an able seaman in 1915.[3] When he was eighteen, he survived the Spanish flu pandemic,[2] which killed over fifty of his shipmates on a transport voyage between Cape Town and Sierra Leone.
Between the world wars, Allan was rescued by his captain after falling overboard in the North Atlantic during a storm.[2] In 1932, he was promoted to chief petty officer.[2]
Allan went on to serve on HMS Moreton Bay and HMAS Ladava in the Second World War.[2] He retired from the Navy on 30 October 1947,[2] after serving thirty-four years, being granted his war service rank of lieutenant in 1948.[2]
He met his wife, Ida Gwendoline Wright, while his ship was docked in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1924,[2][6] and he continued to write to her until his ship returned to Vancouver in 1941. They married on that return trip and sailed to Australia as newlyweds on SS Mariposa,[2] via Hawaii – only twelve days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. After his retirement, they lived at Somerville on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, where he farmed.[6]
Later life
Allan was awarded the 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal by the Government of Australia in 1999,[2][7] and lived in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, Victoria, until his death at the age of 106. He was given a state funeral at HMAS Cerberus on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.[6]
Honours and awards
- King George V Silver Jubilee Medal
- King George VI Coronation Medal
- 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal (awarded 21 April 1999)
- Centenary Medal (awarded 1 January 2002)