Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Patrick William (Bill) TYMONS MM was born in Jamestown, South Australia in 1893 to Bridget and Patrick Snr of Jamestown. Bill grew up in Jamestown and was educated at the Jamestown Public School before being employed as a shop assistant at McFarlane's General Store in Cowell.

Bill enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on the 15th of February 1915; he was 22 years old at the time. Assigned to the 27th Infantry Battalion, Private Tymons embarked from Adelaide on the 31st of May aboard the HMAT Geelong.

After arriving in Alexandria in in September, he spent a short time in Gallipoli before falling ill with a Pyrexia (fever) of unknown origin. After spending some time recovering in Mudros, Malta, Alexandria, and Cairo, Bill rejoined his unit in France in March 1916.

On the 5th of May, Private Bill Tymons was complimented by his Division Commander for rendering help to a fellow soldier who was wounded on patrol work and later took part in a raid on enemy trenches on the night of the 28th/29th of June 1916.

Eyre’s Peninsula Tribune (Cowell SA) Fri 16 Jun 1916 p.4 Letters

Pte W. Tymons writes from France to friends in Cowell, as follows:-

“Just a line to let you know that I am in the best of health. I shall endeavour to tell you a little about trench life. Today is Easter Saturday and I am writing this in my little wet dug-out ‘somewhere in France’. By the way, we missed our hot cross buns yesterday, isn’t it a shame. We had five days in the trenches at first and it was terribly cold and wet. I was never so cold in all my life. My feet were simply numbed, as they were wet and while we are in the trenches we are not allowed to take our equipment off, leave alone our boots. Fritz was very cheeky at first to us, when we fired at him he used to wave a shovel, signifying a miss, so one of our boys waited and when he waved again, fired, and knocked the shovel out of his hands, since then the shovel has not gone up, so we take it that he has more respect for us now. After the first five days in the trenches we went back to the village for a rest and I can tell you we appreciated getting between the blankets once again. I had a bonza sleep, and next morning when the boys woke me up for breakfast, I went ‘crook’ and told them I could do without breakfast if only they would let me sleep. That set them going and it was not many minutes before I was pulled out (to my sorrow.) We had a good time in the village, my cousin and I lived high, we had fried or boiled eggs for supper or lunch every day. Eggs are the only article one can buy so near the firingline. Now we are back again. So far we’ve been in five days and it has rained fairly heavily all the time, we only had one fine night and a part of a fine day. Everything is wet and muddy and makes things a bit miserable, but it won’t be long before summer will be here. The French people tell us that this has been an exceptionally cold and wet winter and that the winter season is very late this year. We have been treated first rate, fresh bread and meat every day, a big change to Gallipoli’s bully beef and biscuits. There are a good few Cowell boys in our Battalion. We see accounts of weddings in our mail, explaining what they wore, etc., we have a good smile. Of course one knows it’s leap year, and I am glad I am in the trenches.”

P.S.- Excuse writing on both sides of the paper, but we have to be economical these times."

Later, on the 4th of August 1916, while fighting in the Battle of Pozières, Private Patrick William TYMONS was killed in action. Initially he was reported as wounded, he was seen in a shell hole with a fatal wound to his stomach that he could not have recovered from. This was later amended to missing, and he was finally reported Killed In Action in March 1917.

Bill’s brother Frank was also serving and sadly found out about his brother’s demise from fellow soldiers. He was able to pass on the tragic news to his family back in Jamestown before the death was confirmed officially by the authorities.

On the 27th of October 1916, Private William Tymons was posthumously awarded the Military Medal for Bravery In The Field for his help to a wounded soldier.

After the war, Bill’s remains were recovered and he was buried at Serre Road Cemetery No.2 Beaumont Hamel, France.

Links/Information

National Archives Australia Patrick William (Bill) TYMONS http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=8396476

SA Red Cross Information Bureau Record http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/sarcib/SRG76_1_1623.pdf

27th Australian Infantry Battalion AWM Records https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51467

Recommendation for Military Medal https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1068083/document/5490311.PDF

Virtual War Memorial Australia: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/56276

WW1 Biographies – folder Cowell RSL. Stocker, B.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219233572?searchTerm=Dr%20Marshall%20Franklin%20Harbour Eyre’s Peninsula Tribune (Cowell SA) Fri 16 Jun 1916 p.4 Letters