WILLIS, Kenneth Ashford
| Service Number: | 3002 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 3002, 54th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 3002, 54th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Sydney |
Our Family ANZACS - K A Willis
Kenneth Ashford Willis
Enlisted 29 May 1916 – 54th Infantry Battalion – No 3002
Ken, at 38, was the second oldest of our family to enlist. He was married to Flora and had one child (also called Ken). Perhaps the enlistment of his wife’s brother, Robert Lander, had something to do with it. He had a fair complexion with fair hair and blue eyes and stood 5 foot 7 inches tall.
Ken was assigned to the 54th Battalion of the 5th Infantry Division at the camp depot at Bathurst in May 1916. He left Sydney on the troopship Ascanius on 25 October and arrived in England on 28 December 1916.
His army record does not show that he ever joined his Battalion at the front. In fact, he seems to have spent all of 1917 at various training camps, depots and bases in England (including at Hurdcott, Weymouth, Parkhouse and Codford).
He left England for Australia on 10 January 1918 on board the Corinthic. He arrived in Sydney on 7 March 1918 and was discharged a month later as medically unfit due to rheumatism.
His application for a military pension was rejected on the grounds that his incapacity was not greater than before enlistment. There is a passing reference on his file to a gunshot wound to the head but as he never saw active service, it may be that it happened during a training exercise, if it happened at all.
He died in 1954 at the age of 76.
Glendon O'Connor 2015
Submitted 9 January 2015 by Glendon O'Connor