Alf Hedge

Alf Hedge
Personal information
Full name Alfred William Hedge
Date of birth (1917-10-29)29 October 1917,
Place of birth Victoria, Australia
Date of death 4 May 1942(1942-05-04) (aged 24)
Place of death Free City of Hamburg, Nazi Germany
Original team(s) Sandringham Amateurs
Position(s) Wing / rover
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1937–1938 South Melbourne 16 (3)
1940 Sandringham (VFA) 12 (5)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1938.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Alfred William Hedge (29 October 1917 – 4 May 1942) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and for Sandringham Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

He was killed in action serving as a RAAF bomber pilot, serving with the RAF in the Second World War.

Family

The only son of Alfred Hedge and Ethel May Hedge née Hume, he was born on 29 October 1917. He was educated at Sandringham State School and Hampton High School. He married Gwynneth Maie Foster in Ormond, Victoria on 11 January 1941.[1] She remarried more than four years after Hedge's death on active service, becoming Mrs. Daniel Hunter Owen.[2]

Cricket

He played sub-district cricket for a number of years (1933–1939) for the Brighton Second XI.[3]

Football

South Melbourne

Having been awarded the trophy as the team's "best first season player" for the 1935 season,[4] he was recruited from Sandringham Amateurs in 1937,[5][6] and was immediately noticed for his accurate disposal.[7]

Sandringham

Having spent 1939 playing for the South Melbourne Second XVIII, he was cleared from South Melbourne to Sandringham in April 1940, having applied for the transfer a year earlier.[8][9][10]

Military service

Hedge enlisted in 1940,[11] and served as a bomber pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II.

Death

He was killed when his plane (78 Squadron Halifax W7662) was shot down over Germany in May 1942.[12][13][14]

Six of the seven crew perished when the aircraft – detailed to bomb Hamburg, Germany – was shot down by German flak and crashed at Lüneburg Heath. One of the engines caught fire and Hedge ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft. The rear gunner was able to leave the aircraft by parachute; he saw one of the wings come off the aircraft before it crashed – which, in his view, accounted for the failure of the rest of the crew to escape the aircraft – and, upon landing he was taken prisoner of war.[15]

The six who perished, including both Hedge and another RAAF officer, Pilot Officer Gerald Ware Copeland (406548),[16] who was the mid upper gunner, were all buried at Ohlsdorf Cemetery.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Engagements Announced, The Argus, (Saturday, 6 January 1940, p.11; Hedge—Foster, The Argus, (Monday, 13 January 1941), p.6; Frost White Lace Gown, The Age, (Monday, 13 January 1941), p.3.
  2. ^ Marriage: Owen—Hedge, The Argus, (Saturday, 18 January 1947), p.23.
  3. ^ Sub-District Matches, The Age, (Friday, 6 October 1933), p.6; Sub-District Seconds, The Age, (Monday, 18 December 1939), p.6.
  4. ^ Sandringham Amateur Club, The Age, (Monday, 2 March 1936), p.5.
  5. ^ Who's Who Among Newcomers: Hedge, The (Emerald Hill) Record, (Saturday, 24 April 1937), p.4.
  6. ^ "DELEGATES OBJECT". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 28, 291. Victoria, Australia. 24 April 1937. p. 26. Retrieved 28 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Hacker and Hedge Impress". Record. Vol. XLII, no. 22. Victoria, Australia. 29 May 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 28 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ Old Players Retained, The (Emerald Hill) Record, Saturday, 15 April 1939; From Forward's Notebook, The Age, (Thursday, 4 May 1939), p.6.
  9. ^ Sandringham Wins, The Argus, (Monday, 15 April 1940), p.11.
  10. ^ League Players Transfer, The Argus, (Saturday, 20 April 1940, p.14.
  11. ^ Footballers Enlist, The Argus, (Wednesday, 29 May 1940), p.17; Flashes from the Football Fields, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 15 June 1940), p.4.
  12. ^ "World War Two Nominal Roll". Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  13. ^ "SGT. PILOT ALAN HEDGE PRESUMED DEAD". Record. Vol. XLVIII, no. 14. Victoria, Australia. 10 April 1943. p. 1. Retrieved 28 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ Deaths: On Active Service: Hedge, The Argus, (Saturday, 31 October 1942), p.2.
  15. ^ "Halifax II W7622". rafcommands.com. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  16. ^ War II Nominal Roll: RAAF: Copeland, Gerald Ware (406548); World War II Service Record Copeland, Gerald Ware (406548), National Archives of Australia.
  17. ^ Storr, Alan, RAAF Fatalities in Second World War among RAAF personnel serving on attachment in Royal Air Force squadrons and support units, Canberra, 2006 Archived 28 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine: at p.298.

Sources