TOOMEY, William Henry
| Service Number: | 4229 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 January 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, October 1883 |
| Home Town: | North Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Butcher |
| Died: | Caulfield Military Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, 7 November 1926, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4229, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4229, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4229, 21st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne | |
| 25 Feb 1918: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 4229, 21st Infantry Battalion, 3rd MD, Medically unfit, wounding, paralyzed below waist. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
The final resting place for; - 4229 Private William Henry Toomey of North Melbourne, Victoria, who prior to his enlistment for War Service on the 10th of January 1916 had been employed as a butcher.
William was allocated to reinforcements for the 21st Battalion 1st AIF and was embarked for Egypt and further training on the 7th of March 1916.
Following his safe arrival, William entered camp at Tel El Kabir, and from Egypt he was shipped to England, before being sent to France where he entered Camp at the ‘Bull Ring’ Etaples on the 24th of August for his final phase of training before being sent to the trenches.
On the 3rd of October, William was formally taken on strength with his Battalion in the field, which was now in Belgium, and by the following month his Battalion had returned to France, and aside a bout of sickness during November, William’s service in the trenches would be continuous.
Shortly after his return to his Battalion after hospital care, William was Wounded in Action on the 20th of March 1917 by a gunshot wound to his lower back in the vicinity of Bapaume and was immediately evacuated for hospitalization at Rouen.
From France he was returned to England and admitted into the 1st London General Hospital on the 30th of March as dangerously ill, suffering from paralysis to his lower limbs due to a gunshot wound to his back.
William would be transferred over to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield on the 22nd of May, and with his wounds seen as so serious in nature he would be deemed no longer fit for Active Service and began his repatriation back to Australia on the Hospital Ship ‘Karoola’ as an Invalid on the 3rd of July.
Following his return to Australia, William was admitted into the 11th Australian General Hospital (Caulfield), where he would remain as a long-term patient, and whilst still under treatment, William received his official discharge from the 1st AIF for his re-entry into civilian life on the 25th of February 1918.
William would require ongoing hospitalization for the serious injuries he had received in Northern France in 1917, and whilst still a patient of Caulfield Military Hospital, William succumbed to his wounds, dying on the 7th of November 1926.
Aged only 45, William would leave behind a widow to grieve his passing and following his premature death due to his service during the ‘Great War’, Private William Toomey of the 21st Battalion 1st AIF, was formally laid to rest within Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria.
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