Edith Atkinson was almost nineteen years old when she married Alfred Berg in 1912. Alfred was thirty-five years old.

One of the ten children born to Edith and Alfred was my father, who was born in Bankstown on the 13th November, 1922. He was the sixth child and third son of Alfred and Edith.

My father was named Alfred Thomas, a name he only used officially in later life, and then only in written form. On his enlistment papers he used the name Thomas Alfred, and to his family, he was known as Tommy, or Tom.

In 1941, Tommy was working as an assistant projectionist at the Enterprise Theatres Pty Ltd, Regent Theatre Punchbowl. On 16th October of that year, Tommy enlisted in World War II. He was eighteen years and ten months old.