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William (affectionately known as Willy or Bill) was the youngest son born to Francis (Frank) Lancelot and Sylvia Maud Reed at Cummins on the 17th October 1920. He was one of six children, including twin brothers Robert and John (Jack) and sisters Rena Ann, Marjorie Sylvia and Grace. The children grew up on the Eyre Peninsula in Cummins, just north of Port Lincoln an area known for its grain farming, with the local railway well utilised to transport wheat to Port Lincoln for export. Bill’s father, Frank a farmer, was active in his efforts on the Cummins Agricultural and Horticultural Committee for over fourteen years and secretary for seven of those years. He was also energetic in supporting the local football and cricket teams.
Typically, the family was readily involved in local events with 12-year-old Bill being awarded first prize for his dog in the ’33 Show. The Reed brothers were welcome additions to the local football and cricket teams with Bill’s batting effort being described as a ‘stubborn 41 not out’ for one match. He was also a talented bowler, but Bill particularly excelled as a bike rider with the Cummins Amateur Cycling Club. He enjoyed finishing in the top three places in the 5- and 8-mile races in ’39 but blitzed the field in the 15-mile event. The course was described as run over a very rough triangular course, made more challenging by heavy showers just prior to the commencement of the race. At times, the going was very slow with numerous falls, and in places, riders had to dismount and carry their machines. Bill was also part of the Race Day held at the local oval to raise funds to improve Oval Cycling Events where again he competed creditably in the Half mile and One mile handicap events.
Social events were always well attended, including Bill being a member of the Bachelors’ Club which ran very successful balls, attracting over 100 attendees from surrounding, districts, including nearby Edillilie. A huge event for the times was the official ‘switching on’ of electric lights at Cummins in September ’39 with power supplied by the local the Umlauf Engineering Co. This was driven by two National diesel engines. The lights could clearly be seen from Cabot's Hill, many miles from the township. To celebrate, the Cummins Hotel hosted a banquet, enjoyed by the Reeds.
In those years, an Annual Butchers’ Picnic was held, with all butchers’ shops being closed for the day. In ’39 the Freezing Works Picnic Committee chose the Hender’s Gum area at the intersection of the old and new West Roads. As part of the celebrations, The Amateur Cycling Club conducted a seven-mile road derby, starting in Tasman Terrace and exclusively for members working at the freezing works. Bill again was handicapped for the start.
Soon after, war intervened. William and his 21-year-old twin brothers, enlisted to serve in WWII through the Port Lincoln Depot, along with nine other young men. The brothers were allocated consecutive numbers with 20-year-old Bill being SX11152, John (Jack) SX11153 and Robert SX11154. They were to become reinforcements for the depleted 2/48th Battalion. A social was held for the brothers and Clem Mickan. A huge crowd attended with the local defence unit forming a guard of honour for the new enlistees. The National Anthem was sung and speeches made, praising the young men, each of whom responded. The brothers left by sea on the Minnipa at the end of January to attend their first camp with nine other recruits from the area. By March they had returned home to enjoy a social in their and Clem Mickan’s honour in the Cummins Hall.
With all three sons enlisting, the farm, which was to have gone to Bill, was too difficult for his father Frank to continue farming. Frank and Sylvia therefore decided to sell and move to a sheep property at Calca. The locals presented Frank and Sylvia with a mantel clock during interval at the Cummins football match in July.
20-year-old Bill arrived in the Middle east in May ’41 where he attended a Staging Camp at Amiriya. The three brothers were all posted as reinforcements to the 2/48th Battalion. In Adelaide to Alamein, based on the war diaries of his father, Darren Paech wrote that Bill was sent to ‘A Company as a rifleman to replace casualties. It was reassuring for him to get posted to the same unit as his brothers, but he now had the added worry of wondering if they would all make it back alive.’ He added that ‘By the middle of 1941, the 2/48th Battalion men were hardened, tanned and confident in their abilities as front-line soldiers. They had now proven themselves in combat. Most were getting thin after three months in the Tobruk defences, continuously labouring on meagre rations with very little water. One of the only luxuries the men had were cigarettes, but even these could be scarce at times.’
By October, short leave was granted and for those who remained in camp drinking and gambling were the favourite pastimes. ‘Private Bill Reed also got among the gambling but preferred dice games and two-up, “I was no bloody good at cards; you had to remember too much!” He recalled in Adelaide to Alamein.
In May ‘42 Transport Driver C. H. Earl, with the A.I.F. In the Middle East, wrote home with his letter concluding ‘The three Reed boys from Cummins are camped only a few hundred yards away from me, but I have not been able to get leave to go and see them yet.’

The following year preparations for the taking of Trig 29, went smoothly with stores and ammunition being assembled and sent forward. Ivor Paech described how ‘Twenty-two-year-old Private Bill Reed from A Company was given the task of fusing a crate of hand grenades for his platoon. One of his mates, Private Percy Gratwick, who had been a gold prospector in Western Australia before the war came past. Finding that Bill had already prepared twelve grenades, Percy decided to take the lot by stuffing them all down his shirt and tightening his belt to hold them securely. Bill issued a caution for Percy ‘not to do anything stupid’.
With the battle raging, 7 Platoon was decimated, leaving only seven men. Percy had witnessed most of his friends killed or wounded. Using Bill’s carefully made grenades, he charged the enemy, dropping grenades, bayonetting, and destroying three enemy positions before his luck ran out and he was killed. In doing so he had turned the course of the battle. Posthumously Percy was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery.
That battle continued to rage. Ivor described how ‘For men like Corporal Dean Adams and Private Bill Reed in the cramped forward slit trenches, time had lost its meaning. To them, each day was largely indistinguishable from the next, with incessant artillery fire, dust, heat and nervous tension their constant companions.’
By the 29th October Bill had a premonition that he would be wounded that night. In a later interview with Ivor he admitted that he told no one and kept his fears to himself.
Conditions for those in the 2/48th were ever-changing and the fighting continuous. Fighting for Trig 29 began on the night of the 23rd October. John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan describes how ‘The darkness was rent by flashes from the mouths of over eight hundred guns. The night exploded as no night before had ever done. The desert burst into flame and shattering sound that shook the earth with its fury. Then came the dreadful whispering of thousands of shells rushing by overhead, the shock of explosions as they smashed into the enemy’s guns, men, tanks and communications. The bombers joined in, raining their bombs on the German gunlines. The tranquil stars seemed to quake in their heaven and to recede in horror at such destruction as had never before been witnessed in this land as old as time itself, or perhaps in any land. The smell of cordite drifted chokingly through the air, then dust billowed up and blotted out the flashing guns.’ Definitive news slowly drifted back about that horrific battle where the 2/48th lost 199 men killed or wounded of their 292 involved in that night’s conflict – over 68 percent of their men.
Bill initially made it out but then ‘heard a loud buzzing noise coming towards him and tried to step out of the way but felt an impact in his lower right abdomen. He felt the area and had blood on his hands and then the pain set in. “It felt like a Bee sting” he recalled. He had been hit by a 3-inch piece of shrapnel and could go no further. He started to make his way back to the Blockhouse as best he could – grateful to still be alive.’
Ivor also recounted Bill’s trip in the ambulance with a wounded German soldier, pleased that his war was over. The two shared a cigarette after Bill was reassured the cigarette had been distributed by the New Zealand ambulance orderly. Bill learned that his brother Bob had also been wounded by shrapnel at a similar time and coincidentally was travelling in the following ambulance, having been carried off the battlefield by Sergeant Tex Weston, who was also wounded. However, there was no news of older brother, Jack in the Machine Gun Platoon. Frustrated, despite being refused release from the medical officer, after a week Bill discharged himself, organised being reissued with a rifle and equipment, then hid in a truck taking reinforcements and lightly wounded men back to the 2/48th. Still unable to gain any news from A Company, he hitch-hiked to the Machine Gun Platoon. He was advised by his friend Corporal Clem Billing, not to go near Jack but ignored that advice. Bill found Jack in his nearby dugout shaking with horrific shell-shock. Jack had been found bleeding from the ears and nose, mute and shaking violently on the battlefield. Bill just hugged his brother and promised he would write home saying all three had survived the battle. The effects on Jack were long lasting. He remained with the 2/48th in an administrative role, finally being discharged in ’46.
In the November ’42 issue of the Chronicle the brothers Bill and Bob were listed as two of 35 soldiers wounded. Jack’s severe concussion was not acknowledged. The Port Lincoln Times shared the news in their November edition that ‘Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Reed, of Cummins, nave been notified that two of their sons, Bob and Bill, have been wounded in action in Egypt. They enlisted in January 1941 and went overseas in the following April.’
John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan, included an undated photo of Bill standing on the wing of a damaged Kittyhawk with Keith Freeman, Tom Derrick and other members of ‘A’ Company.
By mid-December Bill’s battalion embarked for Australia, via Melbourne. Finally, the remnants of the 2/48th returned to Adelaide in March. The local News proudly announced ‘With 2½ years of history-making fighting behind it, the 9th Division A.I.F. received a warm welcome on its return to Australia. One of its South Australian battalions has won three Victoria Crosses and 60 other decorations and awards-more than any other A.I.F. unit.’ In March ’43 the three Reed brothers, Charlie Hewitt SX7629 also from the 2/48th plus Don Aird SX20045 arrived home on leave. Having had two years of active service in the Middle East, the Reed family hosted a welcome back party at their home, with dancing, items and speeches. Charlie, Don and the Mickan ‘boys’ from the 2/48th were all in attendance.
By April ’43 a social was also held for the 2nd AIF men who had returned. The three brothers and Clem Mickan were able to enjoy the celebrations together. Dancing and a variety of items were presented including a tap dance from Will’s brother Private Bob Reed. The following year Charlie Hewitt, Bill and his brother Jack, all from the 2/48th and the Turner brothers, Jack and Bill were all reported as being back home on brief leave in March. A farewell was again organised for the young men with the R.A.O.B. making presentations as did the Comforts Funds and CWA. Dancing, a country supper and the singing of the National Anthem concluded the evening. Bill returned later in August, spending time with his mother, Sylvia then returned to Calca.
By April ’45 Bill left Cairns for Moratai and Tarakan and was rewarded with a well-deserved promotion to L/Corporal. He remained in New Guinea until the end of that year, being home in South Australia in time for Christmas. With his war over, Bill was finally discharged in February ’46.
Initially Bill worked in the Railways before moving to Adelaide where he worked as a truck driver. A post war incident at the Cummins RSL caused him to turn his back on the League until much later in life when he finally marched on Anzac Day. He married divorcee, Sadie Joan Aldenhoven who had originally grown up in Yorketown. The couple welcomed their daughter, Kay in August ’47 and Billie.
The following year, Bill was the proud groomsman for his brother John when he married Ellen Lower in Cummins. Bob, John’s twin, was the best man.
Sadie pre-deceased Bill on the 26th November 2004. She was buried in the Enfield Memorial Park, General Section DX142. Bill died on the 25th May 2013 and was buried alongside with the inscription ‘Gone from our lives but not from our hearts.’
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.