Anderson, Frank Douglas (Lance Sergeant, b.1919 - d.1998)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of VX151840 (V65884) Lance Sergeant Frank Douglas Anderson, Victorian Scottish Regiment, Citizen Military Force, Australia, 1938-1944.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Contains one memoir of Lance Sergeant Frank Douglas Anderson. This memoir consists of typed transcripts of diary entries and letters, photographs, original correspondence, and explanatory notes relating to Lance Sergeant Anderson’s service with 5 Battalion, Victorian Scottish Regiment in Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory between 1938 and 1944. In his memoir, Lance Sergeant Anderson writes about his training with the Victorian Scottish Regiment of the Citizen Military Forces, settling into his camp routines, playing bagpipes in a Scottish band, moving from part-time to full-time service when the Japanese entered the war, training as a medical orderly, being on duty at a Regimental Aid Post, going fishing, travelling by sea from Victoria to Western Australia, doing intensive training, attending dances, visiting friends, his impressions of the Western Australian environment, hitchhiking back to camp after late nights in town, and moving camps, recreational activities, camp pets and mascots, encounters with local wildlife, and attending concerts. He goes on to write about extreme weather conditions, fighting bushfires, building roads, living conditions in various camps, playing music to lift the spirits of marching troops, learning Russian language, the marriage of his friend, being posted to the Northern Territory, building new living quarters, seeing films, Japanese air raids, hearing news of the war, listening to international radio programs, and being transferred to the Australian Imperial Force.

An additional collection relating to Lance Sergeant Frank Douglas Anderson can be found at AWM2020.673.1.