54337
WILLIAMS, Melville John
| Service Numbers: | 729, 729A, V379368 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 January 1917, Mitcham, SA |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Smeaton, Victoria, Australia , 29 August 1893 |
| Home Town: | Kalangadoo, Wattle Range, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Mount Gambier High School |
| Occupation: | Grazier |
| Memorials: | Mount Gambier High School Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Jan 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 729, 8th Machine Gun Company, Mitcham, SA | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 729, 8th Machine Gun Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Jun 1917: | Embarked Private, 729, 8th Machine Gun Company, HMAT Suevic, Melbourne | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 729A, 43rd Infantry Battalion |
World War 2 Service
| 17 May 1942: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, V379368 |
|---|
Help us honour Melville John Williams's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Graeme Roulstone
729A Melville John WILLIAMS was born at Smeaton, Victoria, on 29 August 1893 and was enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 20 April 1909 by his father, Taliesin Henry Williams, grazier, of Sturt Street, Mount Gambier. He left school on 22 December 1909.
He enlisted in Adelaide on 1 February 1917 (23, grazier, single, Presbyterian) listing his mother, Catherine Williams of ‘Chetwynd’, care of Mount McIntyre Post Office via Kalangadoo, as his next of kin. His attestation paper mentions that he had served for six months with the senior cadets at Mount Gambier. He embarked from Melbourne on the ‘Suevic’ on 21 June 1917 as a reinforcement to the 8th Machine Gun Company, disembarking at Liverpool on 26 August and was attached to the 8th Training Battalion at Hurdcott but was hospitalised sick on 20 September. Following his discharge from hospital on 1 October he was transferred to the 15th Training Battalion at Codford, travelled to France on 18 December 1917 to reinforce the 43rd Battalion, and was taken on strength on 24 December. He was treated briefly for dermatitis in March 1918 before taking part in actions around Villers-Bretonneux that helped bring the German offensive to a halt. In August and September he was part of the advance that drove the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line and was promoted to Lance Corporal on 10 September. He fell sick a week after the armistice was signed, was evacuated to England in early December and admitted to Bath Hospital suffering from pleurisy. He was discharged from hospital in mid-January and went on furlough prior to leaving from Devonport for return to Australia on the ‘Armagh’ on 5 April 1919, disembarking on 16 May and was discharged on 9 July 1919.
Published in Ours: the origins and early years of Mount Gambier High School and Old Scholars who served in the Great European War by Graeme Roulstone
Click images to start slideshow.