Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Thomas Bain was born on the 17th of April 1892 in Herberton in Nth QLD to Thomas Bain and his wife Sarah Doyle. Thomas Bain was a well-respected mining boss, and upon his death in December 1901 from Fibrosis Phthisis, a common lung disease among underground miners, Sarah moved her young family to Calliope to be near her older sister and younger brother, supporting her children by working as a postmistress. In 1913 she started her own grocery store that she operated with William and his older brother John, while their two sisters maintained the family home.

Reports of heroic efforts during the August Offensive at Gallipoli no doubt spurred on William’s decision to enlist in Rockhampton on the 24th of August 1915, at the age of 23years and 4months. His brother John would join up 5 months later. William was assigned to the 10 reinforcements of the 26th Infantry Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division. He embarked for overseas on the 28th of March 1916, leaving Brisbane on HMAT Commonwealth.

After a couple of months at the 7th Training Battalion in England, William proceeded to France, arriving at the 2nd Division Base Camp at Etaples (E-TAR-PLAY) on the French coast on the 26th of July. After a week of bayonet training and lectures of dealing with lice, trench foot and poison gas, in preparation for life in the trenches, William and the rest of the 10th reinforcements proceeded to join their unit on the 4th of August. Four days later they were taken on strength by the 26th Battalion as the battle-weary battalion came off the front lines upon the successful conclusion to the Battle for Pozieres.

For the next two months the battalion moved around, enjoying some training and garrison work. On the 18th of October they entrained at Ypres (E-PRA) and began making their way back towards the Flers area in preparation for what is now known as the 2nd Battle of Flers, beginning on the 5th of November at 6:45am. This was an attack on an interconnecting web of trenches known as The Maze. The battalion had received orders that they would be in support, but on their arrival at Cobham Trench, the General Officer Commanding ordered B company, that’s William’s company, and a portion of D company to take part in the attack. William was about to experience his first taste of battle.

The Somme Valley was a quagmire after constant rain and artillery fire. Getting out of the jumping off trench was difficult, and keeping up with the creeping barrage was almost impossible. The advance floundered in mud and slush with 60% casualties as the German machine guns picked them off as the barrage lifted. Luckily for William, he survived this one unscathed. 9 days later, they would try again, this time with the artillery barrage creeping forward very slowly.

Although the advance and artillery barrage were more tightly coordinated this time round, the mist and smoke created by the barrage prevented a view of the battlefield, hindering communications. Runners were called upon to fill the communication void. William would take up this extremely important roll. Running across no-man’s land with a message, he stopped in a shell hole for a breather as it was heavy going through the mud and sludge. Details given to the Red Cross upon their inquiries by 3 of his close friends, said as he exited the shell hole, he was hit in the forehead by a German sniper’s bullet, killing him almost instantaneously. German snipers laid in wait behind the still intact wire entanglements, wreaking havoc on the advancing 26th Battalion. Records show William was buried in no-man’s land near where he fell, about 1 mile East of Le Sars, and 4 miles NW of Combles.

In true military style, if you’re going to bugger up, do it big. On the 23rd of December the Military Commandant in Brisbane sent a cable to Military base records in Melbourne, informing them that the next of kin details had been altered on the wrong attestation papers. William’s file had been changed from his mother Sarah to his wife Isabella Bain. Unfortunately, Isabella was the wife of Alexander Bain, also of the 10th reinforcements 26th Battalion. The commandant requested that they inform Sarah of her son’s death, and Isabella that her husband was in fact still alive. Upon hearing the news, Sarah did not hold back her disgust in her letter to base records.

Sarah then made application for her eldest son John, who was serving with the 42nd Battalion to be returned home to Australia on hardship grounds. Headquarters 1st Brigade Rockhampton had the Calliope Police make inquiries as to Sarah’s situation. The Police reported that Sarah was in fact too old and frail to run the store by herself, and that her two daughters were too frail to help. John returned to Australia on the 4th of May 1917.

At the end of the war, William’s body was reinterred at the Warlencourt Cemetery, not far from where he fell. His family moved to Brisbane, and upon his mother’s death in October 1937, his brother and sisters honoured their brother William on the headstone alongside his mother’s name, giving them somewhere to continue to grieve his loss, as they, like so many Australian families, were unable to travel to France. William’s sacrifice is honoured with the reading of the ‘Names of the Fallen’ every ANZAC Day at Calliope.