Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

*East, William Henry. 4761, Private 15/10th Battalion. Born Forest Range, S.A. Enlisted 20 October 1915. Gardener 19 years, single – Address: Forest Range, South Australia. Unit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board RMS Mongolia on 9 March 1916. N.O.K. (Mother) Mrs. Charlotte East, Forest Range, South Australia. War service: Egypt and Western Front. Killed in Action 4 September 1916. Buried at London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France.
Brothers: 474 Pte. Walter Leonard EAST, 10th Bn., killed in action, 15 May 1915; 4760 Pte. Albert Henry EAST, 50th Bn., returned to Australia, 25 September 1919.
Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 7 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 14 June 1916. Taken on strength, 50th Bn., in the field, 13 August 1916.
Statement: Red Cross File No. 0980812. 4760 Pte. A. H. EAST, 70th Bn., Windmill Camp, England, 26 August 1917: 'I am glad to know someone has sympathy for a chap who has lost all. I came from Australia with my two brothers, one was killed in the landing at Gallipoli, the other W. H. was killed at Mucourt [sic] Farm on Sept. 4th 1916, caused by a shell. 10 of us were in a small sap when a shell lobbed in and the consequence was, all of us were buried, after getting out of my stifling position I lost no time in digging for my brother. I dug 10 bodies out altogether including my brother. They were all torn to pieces with the exception of one and I sent word along for stretcher bearers and he was taken away some little time later and I remembered no more. Sad but true, he is dead.' Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Buried at Mouquet Farm; grave subsequently lost. Originally listed as 'No known grave', and name recorded on the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France. The body was found in an isolated grave north-west of Pozieres in 1937, and reinterred in the London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval.