Ernest WILKINS

WILKINS, Ernest

Service Number: 4239
Enlisted: 8 December 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 32nd Infantry Battalion
Born: Glanville, South Australia, date not yet discovered
Home Town: Glanville, South Australia
Schooling: Glanville State School, South Australia
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Drowned at sea, S S Warilda at sea , At sea (HMAT Warilda A69), 3 August 1918, age not yet discovered
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Buried at Sea,
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton, Peterhead Glanville School Roll of Honor
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World War 1 Service

8 Dec 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4239, 27th Infantry Battalion
9 Mar 1916: Involvement Private, 4239, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: RMS Mongolia embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''
9 Mar 1916: Embarked Private, 4239, 27th Infantry Battalion, RMS Mongolia, Adelaide
3 Aug 1918: Involvement Private, 4239, 32nd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4239 awm_unit: 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-08-03

Help us honour Ernest Wilkins's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon

Hospital ship Warilda  was transporting wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France to Southampton when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-49. This was despite being marked clearly with the Red Cross; as with a number of other hospital ships torpedoed during the war, Germany claimed the ships were also carrying arms.

The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, 123 died 

Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon

Son of John and Frances Wilkins, of Carlisle St., Glanville, South Australia.