S16206
WILLIAMS, Charles Gordon
| Service Number: | 2236 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Southwark, South Australia, August 1892 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Foreman |
| Died: | 8 May 1945, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 2236, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 2236, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Borda, Adelaide | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Driver, 2236 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
Biography
Name: Charles Gordon Williams
Service Number: 2236
Life before the war:
Charles Gordon Williams was born in 1892 in Phillips Street, Southwark. He had no children and was not married. His Dad’s name was William Charles Williams who was his next of kin. Charles was five foot six with grey eyes when he enrolled and was a Baptist. No information could be found about his mother. Before joining the world war, Charles had no military experience, but he did have a job as a loco foreman which helped him become a driver in WW1.
Life in service:
In 1915, Charles enlisted when he was 22 years and 7 months old to fight in WW1. He was in Gallipoli. He trained in a military camp in Egypt. He was enrolled in the 10th battalion. He became a part of the railways, and he transported letters, weapons, health equipment and fresh weapons. He also took people to the hospital.
On June 23rd he embarked from Australia on a Ship to WW1.
In 1916 on the 31st of January, Charles got hospital pick for ‘dinch duty’. Dinch duty is getting chosen to dig out trenches which is used for protection against weaponry and to be kept safe from the opposing side. Dinch duty is dangerous as it gives a high chance of getting trench foot, which is when your foot has had too much exposure to coldness and moisture causing pain and red swelling. Dinch duty is dangerous because the soil that is being dug out could fall and suffocate you. Luckily, this did not happen to Charles.
After 20 days of dinch duty, on the 20th of February he went back to his normal area of work as a driver.
On the 11th of March he got moved from the 10th battalion to the 50th battalion, he then got moved to the 4th division.
From the 31st of July to the 1st of August, he was A.W.O.L. (Away Without Official Leave) This means that he was away from camp without telling anyone. As a penalty for doing this, he got given 15 days without pay. This happened multiple times throughout the time that he was fighting during WW1.
In 1917, France, on the 17th of October he got driven to the hospital for being sick. The next day he came back as a gunner.
On the 3rd and 14th of November he went to the hospital again. 24th of November he rejoined once more as a gunner.
In 1918 on the 5th of July, he got his final pay for WW1.
He 1919 on the 21st of May he got awarded three medals, he got 1914/15 Star medal, British Award Medal and The Victory Medal. These medals mean that they have done a good job on their particular role that they were meant to do.
On the 8th of September he got discharged after winning World War One.
After winning, he chose to stay with the Imperial Force and continue to fight
In 1945 on the 8th of May at the age of 48 years, he died of natural causes after spending 26 years with the Imperial force.
Reference list
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (n.d.). Cloud Object Storage | Store & Retrieve Data Anywhere | Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). [online] Available at: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com.
miningjournal.net. (n.d.). Ambulance drivers of World War I. [online] Available at: https://www.miningjournal.net/news/superior_history/2017/05/ambulance-drivers-of-world-war-i/.
Royde-Smith, J.G. and Showalter, D.E. (2018). World War I. In: Encyclopedia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I.
Digital Item Page Gallery (naa.gov.au)
https://www.army.gov.au/about-us/history
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1895833?image=1