Profile

FISCHER, Alfred Frederick
(Service number )

Aliases
First Rank Last Rank

Birth

Date 12/10/1888 Place of Birth Timaru, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 8 June 1918 Age 29 years
Address at Enlistment Nome, Alaska
Occupation Ship's carpenter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with United States Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Dredgemaster; builder

Death

Date 1 November 1978 Age 90 years
Place of Death Greymouth, New Zealand
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Alfred Friedrich Fischer, known as Fred, was born on 12 October 1888 at Timaru, the second son of well-known photographer Adolf Gottlieb Fischer, from Switzerland, and his Bavarian-born wife, Katherina née Blab, who had come to New Zealand in 1879-80. He was baptised on 12 February 1889 at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Timaru. Alfred, who may have been known as Frederick, was educated at Timaru and at Sydenham School in Christchurch. Alfred Fischer, a jioiner, was called up in Christchurch in 1916, but . . . As a young man Alfred went to Alaska, and while there he registered with the United States Forces for World War I, on 8 June 1918. He was single and noted that his mother, Catherine Fischer, Christchurch, NZ, was solely dependent on him. It was while living at Nome, Alaska, that he was naturalized on 19 July 1918. On 10 November 1922, George Fredrick Fischer applied for a United States passport. He intended to leave the United States from the port of Vancouver, sailing on board the “Niagra” on 24 November 1922. He was then a miner residing at Nome, Alaska, and wanted to visit relatives in New Zealand and Australia. He had been residing in Alaska for ten years unterruped, from 1912 to 1922, having emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland to the United States about Spring 1912. He stated, moreover, that his father was by then (1922) deceased. He probably returned to Nome in May 1923, and again in May 1926 after a visit home. Back in New Zealand he married Glaswegian Mary Coulter Toal in 1932. Alfred Frederich Fischer died on 1 November 1978 at Greymouth, predeceased by his wife in 1974. Two brothers served in World War I – Emil Gottlieb Henry Fischer (Harry) with the Australian Forces and Albert George Fischer with the New Zealand Forces.

Sources

NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [13 April 2020]; School Admission record [13 April 2020]; US Passport application (ancestry.com.au) [25 April 2020]; US WWI Draft Registration Card (ancestry.com.au) [25 April 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [25 April 2020]; canterburyphotography.blogspot.comm

External Links

Related Documents

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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