Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From How We Served

The final resting place for; - V5239 Sergeant William Samuel Farman of Norwich, England and Berwick, Victoria, had already served in the trenches of Mesopotamia against the Turkish Forces during the ‘Great War’ with the 2nd Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment as part of the Indian Defence Forces, which had been based in Bombay prior to it being mobilized for War Service.

Following the end of hostilities, and his discharge from the British Army, William immigrated out to Australia in between the Wars’.

By the start of World War Two, William, aged 54 and married, was employed as a bookkeeper when he decided to enlist with the Australian Military Forces on the 12th of August 1940.

Accepted for full time duty within Australia, William was allocated to the 3rd Military District Provost Company, and by mid-March of 1941, William was transferred over to the 13th Field Hygiene Section.
William’s service would be continuous and would see him again transferred when he was ‘Taken on Strength’ with the 12th Field Hygiene Section on the 20th of October 1942. During this time Wiliam was detatched for duty with Victorian Lines of Communication Leave and Transit Depot, based at Camp Pell, with his promotion to Sergeant occurring on the 12th of March 1944.

On the 13th of February 1945, William was evacuated due to illness, and was admitted into the 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg). Whilst still under treatment as a patient, William succumbed to illness on the 9th of April, aged 59.

Following his death whilst serving with the Australian Military Forces during a Second World War, Sergeant William Farman, a ‘Great War’ veteran, who had served throughout the Mesopotamian campaign, was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria