CHEESEMAN, William John Emson
| Service Number: | 2147 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 52nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | London England, December 1891 |
| Home Town: | Deeford, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Morton Bay area, Queensland, Australia, 15 March 1971, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Redcliffe Cemetery, Qld |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2147, 52nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 2147, 52nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Boorara embarkation_ship_number: A42 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 2147, 52nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Boorara, Brisbane | |
| 7 Jun 1917: | Imprisoned Battle of Messines | |
| 9 May 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2147, 52nd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour William John Emson Cheeseman's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Robert Mahoney
Pte William John Emson CHEESEMAN
Uncle Bill - Our family's WW1 veteran & POW that war.
Our family member who served in World War 1 was WJE Cheeseman, known to us as Uncle Bill. He was born in London in October 1890. He moved to Central Queensland, had his medical early March, 1916 and enlisted 29 March 1916. His occupation is listed as farmer. His pay rate was five shillings / day, with one shilling extra as deferred pay. He was a member of the 4th Reinforcements for the 52nd Infantry Battalion and his number was 2147. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Messines Ridge 7 June 1917.
When captured by the Germans, he was totally immobile and unresponsive (obviously shellshock). He is recorded as being a prisoner of war at the Wahn POW camp in Germany 16 July 1917. His POW registration describes him as not having any wounds when taken prisoner. He was eventually repatriated at the end of the war early December 1918, arriving back in England on 6 December 1918, and then discharged in Australia early May 1919. He was awarded the general medals all received, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was simply a soldier, doing his duty as he saw it.
Uncle Bill was fortunate and unfortunate being taken prisoner. Although almost 60,000 Australians died in this war, he was one of a very small group, as only 3,850 Australians were captured by the Germans on the Western Front. Between 1916 & 1918 of this small group 395 died in captivity. And that’s why he was lucky and unlucky.
The trauma of all this was such that I never, ever heard mention of this part of his life while he was alive. I only became aware of what his life had been like by doing a check of Australian, German and Red Cross records.
Post script. Uncle Bill’s name, as are the names of all Australian POWs, is recorded on the POW war memorial in Ballarat.
Yet another post script. As an Aussie POW, he was fortunate enough to receive regular parcels of food etc from the Australian Red Cross. Which were almost essential to keep him alive, as, while a POW, he was forced to do heavy hard labour in the local quarries.
Click images to start slideshow.