WILLEY, Walter Henry
| Service Numbers: | 15743, N278688 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 April 1916, Victoria Barracks, Sydney, aged 27 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 14th Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Sunderland, Durham, England, 10 February 1889 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Motor Mechanic |
| Died: | Manly, New South Wales, Australia, 23 November 1963, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
Biography contributed by Stuart Walkley
Great uncle Walter Henry Willey was born in northern England in 1889, and worked as a hewer in the coal mines. He migrated to Sydney sometime after 1911, and worked as a motor mechanic. He enlisted in the 1st AIF in April 1916 at age 27, and was made a sapper in the 14th Field Company Engineers, attached to the 5th Division. He left Sydney in October 1916, disembarked at Plymouth in January 1917, and arrived in northern France in April 1917. He was shot in the right thigh in October 1917, while in action around Ypres. He required 8 months recovery in England, then rejoined his unit in July 1918, until the end of the war. He returned to Sydney in June 1919, married in 1921, and had 2 children. Walter then trained to be a Minister in the Methodist Church.
Awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal in October 1922.
Walter was called up on 11 February 1942 at age 53, 2 months after Pearl Harbour. He had been a Methodist Minister around NSW for many years, and was made an army Chaplin. He was married and had 2 teenagers at Five Dock in Sydney. He was based at Bathurst Army Camp until April 1943, when he was transferred to Holsworthy Camp in western Sydney. He retired from the army in May 1944, and died at Manly in 1963 at age 74.
Awarded the Australian Efficiency Decoration in August 1944.