Alfred Hunter Ballard DSC, RNR
| Birth details unknown |
 | Ranks
Decorations
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Warship Commands listed for Alfred Hunter Ballard, RNR
| Ship | Rank | Type | From | To |
| HMS Le Tiger (FY 243) | T/Lt. | ASW Trawler | 24 Jan 1940 | 10 Apr 1940 |
| HMS Daneman (FY 123) | T/Lt. | ASW Trawler | 25 Jun 1940 | 8 Jul 1941 |
| HMS LST 3506 (LST 3506) | T/A/Lt.Cdr. | Tank landing ship | 28 Jul 1945 | mid 1946 |
Career information
Alfred Hunter Ballard was born 29th July 1896 in Shanghai, China the second son of James Adams Ballard and Mary Margaret neé Jessup-Clarke. His father was a general agent representing the Commercial Union Assurance Co and Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S.A. in partnership with Alfred Carroll Hunter. They traded as Ballard & Hunter and James had known Alfred since 1881 and named his son Alfred Hunter Ballard after him. In the First World War Alfred signed up on 20 September 1915 at Lincolns Inn and was posted to the Machine Gun Training Centre Bisley Camp when called up on 11th August 1916 and finally embarked at Southampton 14th May 1917 for Le Havre as part of F Battalion Machine Gun Corps (Heavy Branch) and remained in the field until he was wounded on 10th January 1918 when he was transferred home and posted to the Royal Flying Corps to join the Officer's Cadet Wing. He seems not to have stayed with the R.F.C. for long though as he was demobilized as No. 201228 Private in the Tank Corps on 31st March 1919. Alfred Hunter Ballard completed his training as a Chartered Accountant and on 12 August 1920 married Annie Davies. In 1925 he was made a Freeman of the City of London and in 1933 he gained his Royal Aero Club certificate. He and Annie had three sons but Alfred was not a man who thrived with a quiet home life and a rather staid professional life and he left his wife and young family.
The on-set of the Second World War gave Alfred an opportunity to return to a life style that had better suited his temperament and in January 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve, having lied about his age, as a probationary temporary Lieutenant. Thus Alfred became one of a very small number of people who served in all three branches of the armed forces and in both World Wars. It was not long before he was once again in the thick of things and in September & October 1940 he was mentioned in dispatches for his part onboard HMT Gaul which was eventually sunk in Namsos Fjord.
Ballard was eventually to become acting temporary Lieutenant Commander in charge of a Tank Landing Ship and he was further decorated on 14 Nov 1944 with a DSC for gallantry, skill, determination and devotion to duty during the landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy and again on 22 Dec 1944 when he received a Bar to his DSC for gallantry, skill, determination and devotion to duty in the assault and capture of the Island of Walcheren. Alfred was injured on numerous occasions and suffered from exposure and just six years later on 9 September 1950 he died from pulmonary tuberculosis and exposure and injuries during the 1939-45 war.
Events related to this officer
ASW Trawler HMS Daneman (FY 123)
8 May 1941
HMS Daneman (Lt. A.H. Ballard, RNR) picks up the survivors from the Norwegian merchant Eastern Star that was torpedoed and sunk about 200 nautical miles south-west of Reykjavik, Iceland by German U-boat U-94.
9 May 1941
HMS Daneman (Lt. A.H. Ballard, RNR) picks up 66 survivors from the British merchant Gregalia that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-201 east-north-east of Cape Farewell in position 60°24'N, 32°37'W.
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