Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sergeant William Robert Fisher

This biography was origionally part of the Virtual War Memorial Newsletter February 2022

In a recent story titled ‘Company Runners - The AIFs Real-Life Movie Stars’, the name William Robert Fisher was briefly mentioned. Private Fisher, a runner for the 1st Infantry Battalion, was awarded the Military Medal for his work delivering messages during the assault on the Chuignolles sector in August 1918. But a Military Medal citation hardly tells the full story of Fisher’s service. In fact, if it weren’t for an innocuous pair of gold-rimmed spectacles, he would not have survived the war.

Born to parents James and Alice Fisher on 6 July 1888, William was an only child - a rarity in the late 1800s - although he did have six step-siblings.[i] He moved from his hometown Walcha to Keepit in New South Wales in 1913 and began teaching at the local school.[ii] He enlisted at the Armidale Training Depot on 10 October 1916 as part of the 6th reinforcements of the 33rd Infantry Battalion.[iii] The reinforcements embarked from Sydney aboard the Beltana, arriving in Davenport, England on 29 January 1917.[iv] For three months, Fisher participated in training camps at Sutton Mandeville and Durrington as part of the 9th Training Battalion before proceeding overseas to France on 22 May, where he transferred the 1st Infantry Battalion.[v]

Fisher’s role as the company runner meant he was frequently exposed to enemy fire. It was only five months before he was injured for the first time - a gunshot wound to the right foot sustained at Passchendaele Ridge during the Battle of Battle of Broodseinde.[vi] He was transported to England and admitted to Guildford War Hospital for recovery.[vii] Fisher rejoined the battalion on 26 March 1918 as they were withdrawing to reserve lines from the front line trenches at Méteren.[viii]

As part of the Hundred Days Offensive, the 1st Infantry Battalion launched an attack at Chuignolles, France on 23 August 1918.[ix] The attack began in the early hours with a creeping tank barrage. It took only 45 minutes for Chuignolles to be captured, and by 9:15am, the nearby Long Wood, Arcy Wood and Luc Wood had all been cleared and occupied.[x] Fisher managed to successfully deliver all his messages during the attack, all while maintaining “commendable cheerfulness and expedition”.[xi] His “liaison and cooperation marked…the success of the operation”.[xii] He was recommended for the Military Medal by his Commanding Officer on 3 September 1918,[xiii] with the award promulgated in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 15 September.[xiv]

The 1st Battalion had earned some well-deserved rest after their assault on Chuignolles, and were withdrawn to the Morcourt Valley.[xv] On 28 August 1918, Fisher, together with Private Thomas Painter, Private Frederick McCord and Lance Corporal John Drum,[xvi] were passing the time with a game of cards. Lance Corporal Drum bent down to move an anti-tank shell out of the dug-out where the game was being held. The shell to exploded in his hands.[xvii] Painter and McCord were unharmed in the explosion. It was Drum who took the full force. His right-hand was shattered; his right-leg torn through by shrapnel and nearly severed at the kneecap.[xviii] His left leg also sustained a compound fracture.[xix] Meanwhile, Fisher had dodged certain death. A small piece of shell fragment passed Lance Corporal Drum and struck Fisher in the center of his spectacles. The lens of the glasses managed to deflect the fragment,[xx] which was on course to enter through Fisher’s eye and lodge in his head. Private Fisher, who had for two years outrun enemy snipers and machine guns through no mans land, was almost killed in his own dug-out.

Lance Corporal Drum survived the accident. His hand and leg were both amputated, and he was fitted with prosthetics on his return to Australia.[xxi] Drum was a veteran of Pozieres in 1916, where he had already been wounded.[xxii] After armistice on 11 September 1919, Fisher was employed by the 1st Battalion Education Staff.[xxiii] He was promoted to Temporary Sergeant, and retained the rank “for duty on board HMAT Boorara on his return journey to Australia”.[xxiv] Fisher was discharged from the AIF on the 5 October 1919.[xxv]

After the war, Fisher married Gladys Emily Coote at Manilla, New South Wales in July 1922.[xxvi] He returned to his teaching job, spending several years working at Creek School in West Grafton before moving to Nymbodia Public School, where he stayed for 13 years.[xxvii] His final job was a seven year tenure at North Dorrigo School.[xxviii] In 1943, Fisher retired to Tamworth with his wife. He was a Commandant of the Volunteer Air Observer’s Corps for a period during World War II before suffering from a stroke late in 1943.[xxix] Another stroke in 1947 proved fatal. William Robert Fisher died on 27 September 1947 at the age of 59.[xxx] He was survived by his wife Gladys, who died in Tamworth in June 1977, aged 79. He is remembered as “one of Nature’s gentlemen…[whose] whole life was one of unselfishness and square conduct”.[xxxi]

Refrence List

[i] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Fisher W R 2781, p. 4.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[vii] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Fisher W R 2781, p. 4.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xi] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Fisher W R 2781, p. 18.
[xii] Ibid.
[xiii] Ibid.
[xiv] Ibid, p. 13.
[xv] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xvi] Ibid.
[xvii] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Fisher W R 2781, p. 14.
[xviii] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xix] Ibid.
[xx] Ibid.
[xxi] Ibid.
[xxii] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Drum J J 3034, p. 49.
[xxiii] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xxiv] Ibid. The HMAT Boorara departed England on 6 June 1919.
[xxv] Australian Imperial Force Service Record, Fisher W R 2781, p. 4.
[xxvi] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xxvii] The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate 1947, ‘Late W. R. Fisher – An Appreciation’, The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate, 17 Oct, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173136260?searchTerm=%22William%20Robert%20Fisher%22>.
[xxviii] Ibid.
[xxix] Ibid.
[xxx] Australian War Memorial 2022, Sergeant William Robert Fisher, Australian War Memorial, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11033944>.
[xxxi] A quotation from a fellow teacher, The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate 1947, ‘Late W. R. Fisher – An Appreciation’, The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate, 17 Oct, viewed 7 February 2022, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173136260?searchTerm=%22William%20Robert%20Fisher%22>.