Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Richard was born at Unley an eastern suburb of Adelaide, on the 15th January 1905. He worked as a Forging Smith and in his early 20’s obviously enjoyed travelling but was twice officially caught going over the speed limit. His first offence was the most expensive, travelling at 33 mph in a 20 mph zone and was fined £2 10/-. The following year was at a lower speed but still annoying at £1 15/-
Richard, known both as Rick and Dick, married Lily Kathleen with the two living in Parkside. Rick was involved in the R.A.E prior to enlisting as a 35 year old on the 22nd June 1940. He was allocated the number SX7361 and placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. Intensive training was conducted at Woodside before Rick had pre-embarkation leave before embarking on the Stratheden on the 7th November ’40. He finally arrived in the Middle East on the 17th December but within days was experiencing sciatica pain and spending a week in hospital.
Almost immediately, his battalion was involved in fierce fighting and faced conditions of heat, dust, flies, rats and basic food supplies. He was to become one of the highly respected Rats of Tobruk, an unofficial term originally designed to destroy morale and encourage the troops to surrender, rather than live like rats in their hand-hewn dugouts. It had the opposite effect.
Just four months after arriving, Rick was wounded in action on the 3rd May ‘41with a gunshot wound to his left lower lumbar (back) regions. He was an extremely fortunate soldier.
At the time, fierce fighting to capture Tobruk had begun, with the aim of capturing the right group of posts before moving on to Hill 209. John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan described how ‘the battalion was spread across a five-mile front on the Blue Line, a long way behind the proposed start-line of the attack, and the men were weary.’ A request was made to delay the advance or be given tank support, both being rejected. However, the attack went ahead with the men coming under small arms fire, then heavy machine gun fire which pinned them to the ground. It was during this time that Rick was injured with a gunshot wound to his back.
Back home, the News reported the death of Captain Woods, the first South Australian captain killed in the war. It also included that ‘Pte. R. J. Williams, formerly of Parkside, has been reported wounded in action. Pte. Williams enlisted in June and sailed in November with a South Australian infantry unit.’ Photos of both 2/48th men were included.
Rick had barely rejoined his battalion when he was fined 5/- for a ‘prejudice to good order’ offence. Days later he was classified as fit for duties that did not involve active service ‘with field formations’. He then joined the Depot Battalion and attended Officer’s School.
‘Diver’ Derrick kept a daily notebook diary through much of the war. On the 20th March ’42 he wrote from the Le Gault Barracks “The day of days my Birthday, don’t feel a bit older. – Coy returned last night going out again today and going with them, - marched about 9 miles, a quiet afternoon, Rick fell in a swirling river whist on a night stunt, lucky to get out of it. Turned in at 2130 in an old castle.” (An explanatory note in Mark Johnston’s detailed book ‘Derrick VC In His Own Words’ was that Rick was SX7361, Pte Richard James ‘Rick’ Williams, A member of 9 Platoon.
Soon after, Rick joined the salvage unit. By December ’42 he had acquired new skills, not as a Forging Smith but as a Group III butcher. Finally, he and the battalion were able to return to Australia via Sydney on the 27th February ’43. Within months Rick requested to relinquish his Butcher grading and was posted to the Loveday Internment Camp for the closing days of the war. Originally this Camp was set up in Barmera in the Riverland of South Australia to intern local people of German, Japanese or Italian descent and later, Prisoners of War. It was a productive Camp, producing fruit, meat, eggs, wheat and produce, including opium, to produce morphine and pyrethrum for the troops serving overseas in insect prone areas. A recurrence of an injury to his right knee flared in July ’44 and continued to prove a challenge, eventually being officially diagnosed as rheumatism arthritis. in both knees.
Rick was finally discharged on the 13th September ’45.
Aged 67 Rick died on the 8th June ’72 and was buried at Centennial Park Cemetery General AF Path 23 Plot 422A. Lily lived to be 77 and died on the 29th December ’85. She now rest with Richard.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.