AIKMAN, Alexander Clement (1898-1966)
Alexander Clement Aikman was born on 9 March 1898. He was the son of Alexander Aikman and Margaret Knight nee Clement and was living at Anderson Street, West Geelong at the time of his enrolment at Geelong College as a day student on 10 February 1913. He had previously been at Geelong High School. At College he was a member of the 1st Football XVIII.
During World War I, he enlisted (No 2236) in the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) on 7 May 1917 with the 14th (August) Reinforcements at Laverton. His enlistment papers refer to him as serving for 5 years in the cadets. He embarked on HMAT A60 Aeneas on 30 October, 1917 for England for further training, arriving there on 18 January 1918, and served as an Air Mechanic (2nd Class) with Aircraft Repair Section at Leighterton. He returned to Australia, embarking on 6 May 1919 on HMT Kaiser-i-Hind. He died in 1966.
His brother-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John Charles Robertson (Old Geelong Collegian), died during the Second World War of wounds suffered on 18 January 1942 at the Battle of Muar in Malaya while commanding the 2/29th Battalion. During the Great War Robertson had been awarded the Military Cross with the 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery at Bullecourt on 3 May 1917.
Sources: Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p126 (citing Pegasus; National Archives.)