P120
HAMILTON, William John
| Service Number: | 91 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 January 1916, at Adelaide |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, August 1897 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Driver |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 91, 43rd Infantry Battalion, at Adelaide | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 91, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 91, 43rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Adelaide | |
| 17 Oct 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 91, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, Gassed |
Help us honour William John Hamilton's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
William John Hamilton was born in August or September of 1897. Hamilton was a driver before he enlisted in the army in January 1916. His Mother was the only next of kin written down on the service papers. When Hamilton joined the army, he weighed 53kg and was 5-foot 6½ inches tall. This is stated in Hamilton’s service papers
Hamilton enlisted in Adelaide in January 1916, and most people in the battalion joined around that time. They embarked in June 1916 on the ship Afric with the rest of the battalion. After his training Hamilton moved to France and was a part of the 3rd battle of Ypres. Hamilton was stationed in the same unit for all the war. During the war Hamilton had to go to hospital many times as he got sick twice and even got gassed. The first time he got sick was 31st July 1917which he got sick with a fever. The second time he got sick he was out of battle for a little while. The third and final time he went to hospital was because of the third battle of Ypres, where he got gassed on 17th October 1917. Hamilton was in hospital for up to 1 to 3 months roughly[CV1] . He ended up surviving the war even though he was gassed. At the end of the war, he returned from service. Some other information I found was that Hamilton left camp for two days without notice which was an offence. Because of this Hamilton had people looking for him until he arrived back two days later. This caused him to lose two days’ pay.
The Battle of Ypres
The third battle of Ypres was also known as the battle of Passchendaele. In this fight many fought and died to protect Belgium. This was the third battle near Ypres and was the longest. The battle was mainly a British victory along with all its colonies and allies. Around 3000 guns were used to fire around 4.5 million shells. This did not even silent the machine gun fire of the German forces. The fight involved hundreds of thousands of troops. During these fights the 43rd battalion was fighting, this included William John Hamilton. During this fight the Germans used gas which took out many of the Allies’ forces while taking the area. This again included Hamilton. Hamilton was one of two people to be gassed in the 43rd battalion between the dates of [CV2] 13th of October 1917 and 16th of October 1917, one of many to be wounded or killed. Thankfully Hamilton survived the gas attack but not without serious damage being done to him. Thanks to Hamilton and the 43rd battalion they were able to take over the area and defeat the German forces in the area. This would turn out to be a massive support in winning the war.
After Passchendaele William became sick many times again close to the time of the end of the war. This put William out of the military for quite some time and affected him physically.
Nothing is known of William's later life after returning from war.