William Ernest SMITH

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SMITH, William Ernest

Other Name:	Howard, William Ernest - Grave Marker
Service Number:	2899
Enlisted:	26 September 1916
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	35th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Bega, New South Wales, Australia, 22 September 1891
Home Town:	Erskineville, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Cooper
Died:	Natural causes, Victoria, Australia , 23 September 1975, aged 84 years
Cemetery:	Upper Yarra Public Cemetery, Victoria William Ernest Howard (Smith)
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

26 Sep 1916:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2899, 3rd Pioneer Battalion
9 Nov 1916:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2899, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: ''
21 Jun 1918:	Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2899, 35th Infantry Battalion

My Grandfather

I have learned so much of my grandfather William Ernest Smith. My mother was adopted and it is through William’s war records and lots of research that we found our biological grandfather. I take pride in the fact that though he was injured in the thigh in France 1917, a year after his younger brother died at the front in Fromelles, he rein-listed in 1936 as a cook for he was too old to go to war, he volunteered to help with recovery in Japan 1946. William survived and worked right up to age 80 as a cook and barman. There are no war photographs in his two war records, W E Smith and Ernest Howard but he changed his name yet again to William Howard. I can only imagine he may have looked similar to my mother (photo attached).

Virtual
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