Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Named after his father, William (‘Bill’) was born in St Athan, in Glamorgan, Wales on the 5th June 1909. He was one of three children born to Williamina Sutherland (Mina) Lewis, including two sisters, Phyllis Mabel and Helen. William Snr worked as a Master Mariner with the family living in Semaphore. From there Bill as a thirteen-year-old became naval cadet PA 2165 in March ‘23
The family settled in South Australia where, when Bill was 20, his 54-year-old mother died in the Adelaide hospital on the 20th December 1929. She was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery.
Bill was employed in Minlaton as an accountant for the Yorke Peninsula Barley Producers. The ‘30’s had seen an increase in production of barley in the region, despite some years being affected by vermin attacking the grain and protection of overseas-grown crops forcing the price of the grain down. Setting up a Marketing Board was voted unanimously by local farmers, but other challenging factors were the push for coastal regions, including Edithburgh, to establish their own deep seas ports.
Bill was chosen to act as best man for John McKirdy from Port Broughton when he married Yorketown’s Audrey Friebe in March ’37. (John later became S85234.) Several years later, with the outbreak of WWII Bill heeded the call by visiting army representatives to the region seeking single, fit young men to enlist. Just days after his 31st birthday, he did so in Minlaton.
Bill was immediately allocated to the newly formed 2/48th Battalion as SX9395. Another local farmer from Minlaton, Leslie Tonkin, enlisted at a similar time becoming SX6911 as did the local Yorketown school teacher, Don Carmichael SX9999 and Bank of Adelaide teller, William (Bill) Byrne SX9353 with all four being allocated to the 2/48th Battalion as were many others from the surrounding towns. (25-year-old Leslie was killed in action at Dimra, on the 1st May, just a year after he enlisted, one of 51 casualties suffered by the 2/48th Battalion.) Initially Bill listed his father, working with Burns and Philip Co Ltd in Sydney as his next of kin, but in September altered this to Bill Harris 52991 at J. L. Lewis and Company Ltd in Lipson Street Port Adelaide.
Early days for the new enlistees were spent in the cold of the Pavilions, now part of the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds where ‘beds’ were straw filled hessian on wooden pallets. The new soldiers then headed to Woodside for preliminary training.
During October, enlistees returned home on pre-embarkation leave before then boarding the Stratheden for the Middle East later that month, arriving on the 17th December. The 2/48th Battalion then completed a few months training in Cyrenaica before marching to Tobruk at the start of April 1941. There the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to the fresh new enlistees who were later to become the highly respected Rats of Tobruk. During those early days, besides regular army duties was the need to quickly adapt to the locals and local conditions.
Over March and April that year, to relieve congestion as the troops passed through Derna, two routes were chosen, one through the desert and the other on bitumen. Unfortunately, some soldiers on the former route through the desert bypass were captured, becoming prisoners of war.
John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan described the chaotic conditions. ‘The confusion was so great that some sections of the unit became separated from the rest. When the enemy drive in the south continued to develop, a senior staff officer sent some of the vehicles, including those carrying C Company, through Derna. Amongst the last to pass through that town were Bill Lewis and Harry Heath. Here is what they saw around mid-day on 7th April, four days after the beginning of the retreat:
“We were directed through Derna because of the situation to the south and as we passed through the town great clouds of smoke drifted across the road and hid the truck ahead. The canteen was burning furiously, and explosions were coming from the dumps and stores as they were being destroyed by the engineers. We must have been one of the last trucks through; the engineers were ready to blow the road and were yelling for us to get a move on. We knew the Hun was close on our tail and heard afterwards that parties of Germans had already been seen in Derna. As we crawled up the escarpment on to the plains above, we saw our artillery had pulled to the right of the road and were preparing to engage the enemy. Great clouds of dust could be seen to the south.”
In mid-May as the troops were heading out of Tobruk, Glenn recounts that ‘In this sector the 2/48th Battalion had its only connection with the famous ‘Bush artillery’. These were the two 75 mm Italian guns, which remained fixed, passing on to whichever unit occupied this particular position. It here fell to the battalion to man these guns, and as the enemy were too far off for the use of the mortars, the Mortar Platoon was given the job. One gun was under the care of Reg Dawe, the other under Bert Polkinghorne. Bill Lewis and Jack Carroll did a magnificent job. They set the guns up, loaded, slammed the breach shut, and moved away to pull the long lanyard that hurled the shells somewhere whining on their way. These guns, which were without sights, had large wooden wheels. The recoil was terrific and the gun jumped about as it was fired.’
Over August and September, Eddie, who had acquired the nickname of ‘Ted’, was allocated to the 2/24th battalion, then by November had become a batman, based in the Headquarter section. In February the following year, Bill was graded as a Group III Technical Storemen and two months later was promoted to Acting Corporal, then Corporal by June and Sergeant by August. Quite a meteoric rise through the ranks.
By the end of ’42 the remnants of the battalion were preparing to head home in November in time to return to Australia via Melbourne and hence South Australia for well-earned leave at the start of ‘43. Besides Bill, many others from the 2/48th also returned to Minlaton, including SX7615 Albert ‘Tom’ King, SX8138 Albert ‘Mick’ McKenzie and SX8143 Harry Searle. The community were delighted to have the men back home, with the March meeting of the Ladies’ Social Afternoon entertaining the returnees from the Middle East.
In June that year, Bill acquired new skills gained in Cookery School and qualifying the following month. Training in Queensland followed where his battalion prepared to be sent to New Guinea to face a very different enemy in tropical conditions. He arrived in Milne Bay in August ’43 but just two months later succumbed to malaria which continued to affect his health and require ongoing treatment for his overall poor health, including cerebral malaria, which resulted in seizures throughout ’43. Inevitably, Bill left New Guinea, arriving in Brisbane in February ’44. During leave, he visited the Mahar family in Minlaton, with whom he boarded when working for the Yorke Peninsula Barley Producers.
By April he returned to his 2/48th Battalion in Townsville, where fortuitously a formal group photo of members of Number 6 Platoon was taken. Soon after, Bill returned to Morotai for service at Tarakan until September. With the war at a close he was able to return to South Australia to be treated for developed a basal cell carcinoma on his nose and continued to endure bouts of malaria. Aged 36, Bill was eventually discharged on the 10th October ’45. His father, who had been a Captain in the Merchant Navy, lived to see the end of the war, but aged 72, died on the 6th May ’48 and was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery with Mina.
Just after his 71st birthday, Bill died on the 1st July 1980. His service is remembered in the S.A. Garden of Remembrance at Pasadena.
Written and researched by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.