Tributes flow for the passing of Alf Carpenter, one of Australia’s oldest living WWII veterans and life member of both the Pan-Cretan Association of Australia and of the Greece and Crete Committee of Australia.
The NSW RSL made the sad announcement on their Facebook page on Wednesday.
“He will be missed by his fellow members of the RSL and we extend our condolences to his family and friends.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. Lest we forget,” the post concluded.
Carpenter had left Australia in 1939, just a month after getting married to his wife Marjorie, and fought in Libya before being transferred to Greece.
He was one of the last living ANZAC veterans who fought in the Battle of Crete.
Witnessing the dozens of German paratroopers invading the Greek island on 20 May 1941 and experiencing the hospitality of Greeks were the two main things etched in his mind from those times, he had stated.
Carpenter was always present at the annual Battle of Crete commemorative events, and had been awarded life membership at both the Pan-Cretan Association of Australia and of the Greece and Crete Committee of Australia.
Speaking of the bond he shares with Greeks he had told Neos Kosmos:
“I fought alongside the Greek people and they were very thankful for that and they treated us with nothing but hospitality. They looked after us very well indeed. The Greek soldiers were very good fighting soldiers.”
