MAY, William Henry
| Service Number: | 145 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 February 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 25th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Dover, Kent, 1890 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Feb 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 145, 27th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sergeant, 145, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Geelong embarkation_ship_number: A2 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 145, 7th Machine Gun Company, Battle for Pozières | |
| 11 Nov 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sergeant, 25th Infantry Battalion |
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No. 145 Sergeant William Henry May, born Dover, Kent, England, 1890. His Next of Kin was listed as Father, William Henry May, Crampton Tower, Broad Stairs, Kent, England. He gave no local address in SA, on enlistment.
He enlisted into the 27th Battalion in Adelaide on 16 February 1915 with the rank of Sergeant presumably on the basis of his prior experience in the British Army.
William May had prior service having served for 4 1/2 years in the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in the UK.
He embarked with the 27th Battalion on HMAT Geelong on 31 May 1915 from Outer Harbour in Adelaide.
It is not clear from his records whether he served on Gallipoli - it is assumed he did becasue there is no account of his activities between embarkation in May 1915 until his promotion to Sergeant Drummer in February 1916. From Sep 1915 until the evacuation in December, the 27th Battalion served at Gallipoli.
He was admitted to hospital in France with pleurisy (a severe form of pneumonia) in April 1916 and susbequent assignement to the Corps Machine Gun School, after which he transferred to the 7th Machine Gun Company on 11 August 1916 during the Pozieres / Mouquet Farm campaign.
After a short period of hospitalisation, William May transferred to the the 25th Battalion on 11 November 1916 and reverted to the rank of Private where he served through until in early1918, he was declared medically unfit due to defective vision and returned to Australia in March 1918.
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