Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William was born in Port Adelaide on the 9th May 1915 to Robert and Sarah Annie Fletcher. He was the middle child of three with an older sister, Bessie and a younger brother, Jack. As a two-year-old little William was in an horrific accident, badly scalding one of his hands when Sarah was taking a kettle of boiling water from the stove. At that moment, William had run into the room, tripped and fell. In doing so his hand plunged into the water. He was treated at the Casualty Hospital but was later able to return home. The scar, however remained and was still evident, and noted, when he enlisted.
William was just seven when his 53-year-old father, a waterside worker, died after an extended and painful illness diagnosed as chronic enteritis (an inflammation of his small intestine) in January ‘23. The members of the Federated Seaman’s Union followed his hearse to the Cheltenham Cemetery.
Post school, William gained work as a labourer and as a 19-year-old joined the militia as S7841 in the 9th Light Horse. He moved to Jamestown where he worked for the Merrifield family who owned the local butcher’s shop.
William and Clarice Philomena Dawes of Jamestown married in June ‘37 in the St. James Catholic Presbytery, Jamestown. William chose William Merrifield Jnr. as his best man. The young couple then made their home in Yongala, known as one of the coldest towns in the State. They soon became an integral part of the community with both William and Clarice playing tennis for Yongala, including winning the ’38 Grand Final against Peterborough on the Railway Courts. (That year Clarice also took out the ‘Ladies Championship’.)
However, WWII soon intervened, and 26-year-old William heeded the call to enlist on the 23rd June ’41. He was given the number SX13592 and allocated to the 2/48th Battalion reinforcements, sailing from Adelaide on the 22nd September and arriving in the Middle East on the 20th October. His daughter, Maureen was born in March ’42 while he was overseas.
Any news received from the young men was shared, often through the local newspapers. William wrote to Jamestown friends who received the letter in December ’41. He told of some of his interesting experiences on the voyage overseas and in the Middle East. On the troopship with him were other locals, including Avere Keith Yeomans, SX13405 Barney Bailey, SX13008 Sam Simpson, and SX8817 Lindsay Cummings. William commented that they had a good voyage, probably implying he was not affected by sea sickness.
However, in the desert conditions, the dust and heat, William contracted a painful middle ear infection, spending several days in hospital. Just months after re-joining his battalion, William received a gunshot wound to his left shoulder during the fierce fighting in Tobruk in July ’42.
The men had been living in hot, cramped, primitive hand-hewn underground dugouts. In an attempt to destroy morale, Germans pilots dropped leaflets deriding them for living ‘like rats’. Ironically it had the opposite effect, with the troops proudly claiming the title of being Rats of Tobruk, a term they carried with honour and which became a highly respected and admired label.
Conditions were horrific for the men as they sweltered in their tiny dugouts, attacked by plagues of flies, fleas, minimal water and unappealing tinned meals. Any daytime movement brought down intensive shell and mortar fire – and the ire of fellow soldiers. Night-time raids were conducted against enemy sniper and troop positions in No Man’s Land and resulted in the capture of some enemy soldiers. It was under these conditions that William was wounded, in the Battle of Tobruk.
Back home the News continued to carry the names of those killed or wounded in the fighting. From the 2/48th this included SX6702 Lieutenant Dudley C. C. Williams, Unley Park; SX10269 Lieutenant John J. Wilson, Parkside; Privates SX13592 William P. Fletcher, North Adelaide and SX6888 Lance-Sergeant Albert B. Stubberfield, Port Vincent.
Whilst recuperating, William wrote from overseas to Jamestown friends, on June 8, sharing that he had met SX8068 Bob. Fotheringham, SX 13535 Allan Thessinger and SX13008 Allan Simpson, well known Jamestown men. Bill sent regards to local friends. (Sadly, Allan Thessinger was killed just months later on the 25th October ’42.)
Finally at the commencement of February ’43 William and his battalion were on their way home to Australia via Melbourne. By this stage, the inner ear infection that had flared at the start of his service, became a more severe infection and inflammation of William’s inner ear (Chronic mastoiditis) which required treatment and resulted in him being discharged on the 22nd May ‘43, being medically unfit for service.
Two decades later, Clarice and William celebrated their daughter, Maureen Patricia’s wedding to John Adrian Richter of Tanunda in January ’63. John was part of the Intelligence Section with the C.M.F.
Aged 56 William died on the 24th November 1971 and rests in the Derrick Garden of Remembrance in Tree Bed 11 Plot 019. Clarice (Trix) lived to be 70 and died on the 16th November ’86 and was buried in the Enfield Memorial Park.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.