Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Hamley Healey was born on the 23rd of July 1893 in Norwood, South Australia. He was the fourth son of Leah and James Healey, and he had an uncle named Waller Ernest Healey. Their religion was the Church of England, which was a common religion for many.

When William was old enough, he attended Norwood Public School and he joined the Union Football Club in Norwood. After this, he became an apprentice of J.A Cook, and served under him for 5 years to become a carpenter. Keeping to his job, he didn’t serve under any other forces. He has never been convicted by civil powers and was devoted to his job.

William enlisted for the AIF a while after the war began, but was rejected for poor teeth. After a few weeks of tending to his teeth, he applied once again on the 10th of February 1916 in Adelaide and was accepted.

He embarked on his journey on the 13th April 1916 on the HMAT A60 Aeneas. He disembarked in Suez, 14th May 1916. He trained in Suez in the 7th Training Battalion. He was then assigned to the 12th Reinforcement of the 27th Battalion before moving to the 43rd Infantry Battalion. He trained for a bit longer with his new Battalion in England before proceeding overseas to the Western Front in France, 25th November 1916.

By 23rd December 1916, his battalion moved to Armentieres to help fight in the trenches. Shortly after he was deployed into battle, he observed enemy territory, mapping down their defences. He then led his allies across No Man’s Land to try and raid the German trenches, providing crucial assistance to Lieutenant W.D. Price in guiding their allies through barbed wire and defensive positions. After this, he carried back 5 wounded men from the enemy trenches, passing through barbed wire whilst under attack by heavy shrapnel fire. His bravery and determination allowed him to push through and participate greatly towards the success of the mission. For his courageous actions, he was awarded the D.C.M – Distinguished Conduct Medal. In 2 months, he was sent back to England on leave.

During his leave, he caught an illness. However, symptoms didn’t show until he was sent back to the front lines. Once the symptoms were visible, he was immediately sent to the hospital, and stayed there for approximately 50 days. By 17th November 1917, he was back in his Battalion on the fields.

William’s past achievements and devotion towards his duty as a soldier prepared him to be promoted to be a Corporal on the 5th January 1918. He was sent to a Brigade school in England. After 10 days in Brigade school, he was sent to the NCO’s school – Non-Commissioned Officer’s school. After spending 19 days in NCO’s school, he was sent to Sniping school for another 18 days. He re-joined the 43rd Battalion for 7 days before going to England on another leave. He was on leave for about 3 months.

When he returned to his Battalion, he fought at Le Bizet, Ploegsteert for only 5 days before he was killed in action. His cause of death is unknown, however witnesses say that he died due to a shell on the first of June, when the Germans started firing their artillery. After he died, his uncle (Waller Ernest Healey) kept possession of William’s D.C.M. His grave is in the Adelaide Cemetery (Plot III, Row C, Grave NO. 24), Villers-Bretonneux, France and his roll of honour number is 136.

From François Berthout

Corporal 4728 William Hamley Healey
43rd Australian Infantry Battalion,
11th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division
 
On the old battlefields of the Somme, beyond which the poppies grow in silence, are sometimes heard in the solemn silence, the echoes of the past, the bagpipes and the drums behind which marched and fought a whole generation of young men who served together with pride and honor for their country and who, alongside their brothers in arms, in the trenches, in the mud and the barbed wire, sacrificed their youth for what was right and who, shoulder to shoulder in the hell of the battles, in tight lines, with bravery and determination moved forward and fell side by side on the sacred grounds of the Somme on which they shed their blood and gave their lives for the peace and freedom in which we live thanks to them and in which they still stand proud behind the rows of their white graves on which are remembered and honored their names and the stories of their lives, of their memory that I will always keep strong and alive so that they will never be forgotten.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Corporal number 4728 William Hamley Healey who fought in the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 11th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division, and who was killed in action 104 years ago, on June 1, 1918 at the age of 24 on the Somme front.

William Hamley Healey was born on July 23, 1893 in Norwood, South Australia, and was the son of James Healey (1860-1931) and Leah Healey (née Oaten, 1859-1937) of Kenilworth Avenue, Norwood, South Australia.He had six brothers, Walter Ernest (1882- 1965),Harry Gordon (1886-1968),Joshua James (1892-1969),Earl (1897-1988),Claude (1900-1920),Freeling (1903-1941) and four sisters,Eliza May (1884-1949) ,Ann (1888-1954),Maude (1890-1958) and Leah (1895-1977).William was educated at Norwood Public School and joined the Union Football Club at Norwood.He played several B grade and Association matches in 1915 when he was named in the best players.His second and final League game was against South Adelaide when players wore black armbands as a mark of respect and esteem for Phil Robin who had been killed in action at Gallipoli in April 1915. After graduation he became an apprentice to Mr J.A. Cook under whom he served for five years to become a carpenter.Keeping to his job, he didn’t serve under any other forces. He has never been convicted by civil powers and was devoted to his job.

William enlisted for the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) a while after the war began, but was rejected for poor teeth. After a few weeks of tending to his teeth, he applied once again on the 10th of February 1916 in Adelaide and was accepted as a Private in the 27th Australian Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcement then after a one month training period at Mitcham Camp, south of Adelaide, he embarked with his unit from Adelaide, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on April 11, 1916 and sailed for Egypt.

On May 14, 1916, William arrived in Egypt and was disembarked at Suez where he joined the 7th Training Battalion and was transferred shortly after to the 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion whose nickname was "The Hindmarsh Regiment", and whose motto was " Nil Desperandum" and under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Gordon.

After a period in Egypt, William had further training in England on the Salisbury Plain and embarked with the 43rd Battalion from Southampton on November 25, 1916, this time under the command of Major General John Monash and proceeded overseas for France.

On November 26, 1916, William arrived in France and was disembarked at Le Havre and marched to Bailleul two days later then moved to Steenwerck on December 1 where the 43rd Battalion followed a period of training until December 22 and the next day joined the trenches of Armentieres where three months later, on March 10, 1917, for his great courage, William was awarded the DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal) with the following citation:

"Prior to the raid on the night of 19th/20th February 1917 at Armentieres, Private HEALEY rendered invaluable service in reconnoitering the proposed point of entry under difficult conditions. On the night of the raid he made a final reconnaissance of enemy wire and during the actual operation he led parties across "No Man's Land" to the point of assembly, afterwards rendering valuable assistance to Lieut W.D. Price in getting parties through the enemy's (barbed) wire. Later he carried five wounded men from the enemy parapet through the wire back to the point of assembly, under heavy shrapnel fire. He assisted in getting the parties back to our own parapet, and afterwards lent further assistance in bringing in wounded men. His courage and determination added materially towards the success of the raid."

On May 28, 1917, William was granted leave in England and on June 14, joined the 43rd Battalion at Steewerck which, ten days later, on June 24, moved for Messines during the third battle of Ypres and fought in this sector until July 11 then were relieved by the 35th Australian Infantry Battalion and marched to Camp T2 near Neuve Eglise which they left on July 30 and moved back to the Messines trenches by motor lorries and went into action north of the river Douve before returning to Camp T2 on August 1st then to the Jesus Farm in Steenwerck a week later.

On August 24, 1917, William and the men of the 43rd Battalion left Jesus Farm and moved to Billets in Avroult, Pas-De-Calais where they followed a period of training which ended on September 25 but a few days earlier, on the 19 September, William fell ill and was admitted to the 2nd Australian Field Ambulance suffering from syphilis and scabies, a disease he probably caught while on leave in England a few months earlier.On September 20, he was transferred and admitted to the 10th Stationary Hospital of St Omer suffering from venereal disease then the next day was admitted to the 39th General Hospital of Le Havre and remained there for a period of 50 days.

On November 7, 1917, after recovering, William marched to the 3rd Australian Divisional Base Depot in Le Havre, marched out to unit on November 12 and rejoined the 43rd Battalion on November 17 at Steenwerck, between a front line extending from the river Lys to the river Douve then on November 20, moved to a camp near Steenwerck called "Canteen Corner" where the men alternated periods of training and sports exercises including several football matches but also special exercises including gas exercises and bayonet fights then were employed in working parties between Nieppe and Hill 63 near Steenwerck then left "Canteen Corner" on December 14 for Locre.

In Locre, the men of the 43rd Battalion followed a new short period of training then on December 20, they marched for Erquinghem where they were mainly employed in the repair and consolidation of trenches but also in line reconnaissance and on December 27 were sent in the Bois-Grenier sector.

On January 5, 1918, William was promoted to the rank of Temporary Corporal with detachments to Brigade training schools including a NCO's school (Non-Commissioned Officer's school) and sniper's school, followed by leave in England then on April 12 he joined the 43rd Battalion at " Wellcome Wood" in the Somme Valley to stop the German Spring Offensive which was launched on March 21, 1918 and to aid the 5th British Army which was collapsing under German pressure.
On May 1, 1918, William and the 43rd Battalion held the front line between Bonnay and Heilly, east of the Ancre River and then the Albert-Amiens line. On May 9, they marched into Billets at Querrieu where they remained until on May 19 and the next day joined Blangy-Tronville, near Villers-Bretonneux and occupied Bois-l'Abbé from where they relieved the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion and where they suffered terribly under the fire of the German artillery as described battalion diary dated 26 May as follows: "9000 shells fell on our brigade, including gas shells, heavy casualties resulted."
On May 28, 1918, the 43rd Battalion relieved the 41st Australian Infantry Battalion at Villers-Bretonneux with the support of the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion on their left and the 3rd Zouaves (French) Regiment on their right.

Unfortunately, it was a few days later in Villers-Bretonneux, on June 1, 1918, during a heavy and violent bombardment by German artillery that William met his fate and was killed in action by a shell, he was 24 years old.

Today, Corporal William Hamley Healey rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Adelaide Military Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

William, young and brave, it was under the bells of a world at war that you answered the call of duty alongside your friends to do your bit on the battlefields of northern France towards which you marched with enthusiasm and conviction in the innocence and ardor of your youth behind the bagpipes and the bugles which punctuated and guided the steps of thousands of young boys through the poppies which were swallowed by the mud and drowned under the fury of the artillery that poured tirelessly and with extreme ferocity tons of shells that transformed once verdant, silent and peaceful landscapes into fields of death on which friends and enemies killed each other in courageous and murderous charges that ended in the clash of bayonets which collided in the darkness that were the fields of Pozieres, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux which were scarified and bruised by kilometers of barbed wire lines in which so many heroes fell under the fire of machine guns and rifles which spat at an infernal pace rains of burning lead on the no man's land.They were young, came from all over the world and thought that the war would have been for them a rite of passage, a great adventure but in the trenches, in the mud of the Somme, they saw, lived with the death which mowed down their brothers , their friends, their brothers in arms under rains of blood and were swept away in hurricanes of fire and steel which crushed them mentally and physically without pity, without a single moment of respite but despite the hell on earth in which they sacrificed the youngest years of their lives, they did not retreat, they held the line and their positions alongside their best mates, their fingers clenched on the trigger of their rifles they did not let the enemy pass and fought like lions, united in camaraderie, brotherhood, friendship and the love that bound them together, they pushed forward until the light of peace broke through the clouds of a world at war which descended into madness and chaos.Together they had the strength and the courage to fight and shoulder to shoulder, behind the sounds of their officers' whistles they went over the top and faced their fears, they looked straight ahead towards their destinies under the weight of their bags, struggling meters after step into a deep and putrid mud soaked with the blood and tears of their comrades who fell beside them but with heroism and conviction, for peace and freedom they went forward, again and again, always further through the fields, the slaughterhouses of the Somme, under a sky broken by howling thunder but the price was high for every inch of ground conquered and when these young boys looked behind them, they saw the wooden crosses, the last silent resting places of their brothers, of their friends with whom they lived until their last breaths of life which they gave for our tomorrow.Forever young, it is united that these young men always stand proud and solemn in the eternal white cities where their names, their lives and their memory are remembered and honored with respect and it is with this respect in my heart that I would always walk among them to maintain their memory, to put a name and a face on who they were, more than ordinary men, they were and will always be heroes in my eyes and will always be in my heart, my sons, my boys of the Somme.Thank you so much William, for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them. 

William Hamley Healey is recorded as Wiliam Hanley Henley on the transcribed embarkation roll held by the Australian War Memorial. However, the original roll, and all other documentation related to Healey's service records his name as William Hamley Healey. The RSL Virtual War Memorial database has been updated accordingly.

William Healey was born on the 23rd July 1893 at Norwood, the fourth some of Leah and James Healey.  He grew up in Norwood attending the local Primary School.  He trained as a an apprentice carpenter working for J.A. Cook qualifying after five years.

He enlisted in February 1916 having had some initial issues with dental fitness, a common malady of the time.  He was duly accepted, and began training with the 27th Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Division, before embarking with their 12th Reinforcements Draft on the 12th April 1916.  After further training with the 7th Training Battalion on the Salisbury Plain, William was re-allocated to the 43rd Infantry Battalion, also a South Australian Battalion, but in the 3rd Division training nearby in England and which had yet to deploy to France.  Its commanding officer was a Melbourne engineer named Major General John Monash.

The 43rd Battalion was part of the early move to France of the 3rd Division.  The Division as a whole was not to be committed to combat until mid 1917. In the meantime, the 43rd Battalion deployed to the Armentieres area in France near the Belgian border.

He was to soon make a name for himself, taking part in a raid on 19th/20th February near Armentieres. For his role in proceedings he was recommended for and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

"Prior to the raid on the night of 19th/20th February 1917 at Armentieres, Private HEALEY rendered invaluable service in reconnoitering the proposed point of entry under difficult conditions.  On the night of the raid he made a final reconnaissance of enemy wire and during the actual operation he led parties across "No Man's Land" to the point of assembly, afterwards rendering valuable assistance to Lieut W.D. Price in getting parties through the enemy's (barbed) wire. Later he carried five wounded men from the enemy parapet through the wire back to the point of assembly, under heavy shrapnel fire.  He assisted in getting the parties back to our own parapet, and afterwards lent further assistance in bringing in wounded men.  His courage and determination added materially towards the success of the raid".

He remained with the battalion until early June when he proceded on leave to England, thus missing the battle of Messines, not far north of Armentieres, the first notable victory of the Allies on the Western Front and the first action in which the entire 3rd Division took part.

He returned to the Battalion and fought in the early phases of the Third Ypres campaign in Belgium, until he was hospitalised with VD and scabies; both common afflictions among soldiers, before returning to the Battalion in mid-November 1918.

Promoted Corporal in January 1918 with detachments to Brigade training schools including a sniper's school, followed by leave in England,  he returned to the Battalion in early April 1918 and was engaged in the consolidation after the halting of the German Spring Offensive when the AIF had been used to plug gaps that formed when the British Army's 5th Army front began to collapse.

After the line stabilised, the 3rd Division was dug in near Sailly le Sec.  From here they engaged in raids during the period known as 'Peaceful Penetration', when, across the Front, the AIF gained an extra 4-5km of ground, as exponents of small scale raids put pressure on the German outpost line.  

It was in one of these, in front of Villers Brettoneux on 1 June 1918 that William Healey's luck ran out, and he was killed, according to witnesses, by an enemy shell.

He was initially buried near Bois l'Abbe, a formerly forested area, SW of Corbie and Villers Brettoneux.  He was later re-interred in the Adelaide Cemetery at Villers Brettoneux.

He is commemorated on a number of Memorials in Norwood, in addition to the National War Memorial in Adelaide and the AWM Roll of Honour..