Do you have a family member who served in WWI? How much do you know about their life? Here at the museum we have always been curious about Alderman John Albert Power, because of the photograph below. Council's archives contain a number of councilor portraits, but Alderman Power is the only one who appears in an army uniform.
The inscription at the bottom made us assume he retired from council to serve in the army, but according to the Australian Imperial Force's Nominal Roll he did not join the A.I.F until January 1917. It states he was a 35 year old leather dresser from Napoleon Street, Mascot.
Why do you think he joined the army in this mid 30s? By 1917 was there a lack of young men available to serve? How do you think his wife Eva Gertrude Power felt about his going?
The only other facts we know is that Alderman Power was wound in 1917 at the Somme and that he passed away in 1956 in the Burwood area of Sydney. Dates and facts such as these can help us connect to people in the past, but they also make us wonder about things we will never know.
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