Richard William Dowell

Richard William Dowell

Personal Information
Date of Birth	22 Nov 1920
Place of Birth	Subiaco, Western Australia
Death	16 Jan 2006, aged 85
Place of Death	Maddington, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	20 years, 4 months
Religion	Brethren
Address	Bedfordale, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Wife , Mrs Dorothy May Dowell
Military Information
Reg Number	W90288
Date of Enlistment	6 Mar 1941
Rank	Private
Unit/Formation	20th Australian Employment Company
Post War Details
Fate	Remained in Australia

Pre War

During 1943 Richard married Dorothy May Denton. Dorothy died in Gosnells on 19 Aug 2007, aged 81.

War Service

discharged 12 Nov 1945

Post War

Electoral Roll entries: 1949 - 1954 at Albany highway, Bedfordale, gardener and orchardist; 1977 at 35 Marian avenue, Armadale, labourer.

Notes

During the period 1939 - 1945 some unit names changed more than once. In the case of Australian Employment Companies they were also known as Works Companies, Labour Companies, Labour Units, Labour Corps. For sake of consistency I have adopted the term Employment Company. The role they played did not change with title. They were established to ensure that the Australian Defence Force had a large force of soldiers dedicated to essential labouring tasks, providing the physical labour needed to maintain the war effort and support the fighting forces.

Of the total of 39 Companies, 11 were part or fully manned by non British citizens known then as 'aliens'. These alien companies were not issued with arms. The 20th Company was not one of them.

External Links

[[Category:]]