Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Citation for Miltary Cross WW1
2nd Lt. William Charles Skerrett, Royal Lancashire Regiment.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. In the initial assault he kept his men close up to the barrage and took thereby several strong points. Finding that the supporting battalion could not reach the barrage in time, though he had gained his objective, he pressed forward and took further objectives, subsequently withdrawing his men. The success of the attack was due to his gallantry and leadership.

From How We Served
 
The final resting place for; - VP7580 Captain William Charles Skerrett MC of Newry, Ireland and Kew, Victoria had joined the British Army in 1907 and was originally posted to the Worcestershire Regiment, with which he served with into the outbreak of World War One.

Appointed an officer’s Commission with the King’s Own Rifle Regiment at the start of 1917, William would see out the War in the trenches of Northern France and Flanders, and by the end of hostilities he had been awarded the Military Cross.

Following the end of the War, William took his discharge from the British Army in 1921 and shortly afterwards immigrated out to Australia.

William joined the Australian Permanent Forces in 1924, and continued to serve throughout the peace time, until a Second World War broke out in 1939. At the time of the commencement of further hostilities, William was serving as Adjutant and Quartermaster with the 38th Battalion.

As an officer with the Australian Instructional Corps, William would serve in a variety of postings within Victoria, and by December 1942 he was serving as a Captain undertaking duty as a Staff Officer with Advanced Land Headquarters (Victoria). William would remain on duty continuously until he was evacuated due to sickness and admitted into the 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg) on the 21st of June 1943.

Whist still being hospitalized, he succumbed to illness on the 25th of June. William was aged 50 at the time of his premature death.

Following his passing, Captain William Skerrett MC, a decorated ‘Great War’ veteran of the British Army, and who had chosen to serve in the Australian Military Forces as a career soldier, until his death whilst on duty during a Second World War, was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria.