Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sergeant William Symington could be described as a "Double Anzac". He fought, under two different names, in two World Wars, for both Anzac countries and in both the first two battle in which Australia and New Zealand were involved in each war, at Gallipoli and Bardia.
He was born, William Symington Brown, in Darjeeling, India in 1894. He was the fourth child of six, born to Henry and Jane (nee Symington) Brown, who for 24 years were missionaries in the Union Church of Darjeeling. For all of his life he was nick-named "Buster".
As were most of his siblings, he was sent off to boarding school in England at around the age of 8 years.
After the death of their father in 1912 the three eldest boys emigrated to New Zealand, to be followed there by their mother and youngest brother a year later.
When WW1 broke out the three eldest boys joined up with the New Zealand forces. William served in the Middle East at Gallipoli and was involved in the "evacuation" of that battle, and then later in Europe.

He was awarded the Military Medal, as was recorded in the London Gazette of the 6th April 1917,
"At Flers on the 16th September, when the Germans had been driving along the trench captured by us and a block was being constructed. This man organised and led a small clearing party further along the trench to protect those working on the block. He displayed great resourcefulness and courage in leading this party, and afterwards resisting bombing attacks by the enemy."

Later he was sent the England for officer training and was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

After returning to France, he was later awarded the Military Cross on the 4th November 1918.
"For most conspicuous gallantry and skill. On 4th November, 1918, near Le Quesnoy, when and enemy machine gun threatened to check his platoon, he attacked the gun, capturing it and killing the crew. Again, near Villereau, he similarly overcame machine gun resistance. His work during the operation was most brilliant, and afterwards resisting bombing attacks by the enemy."

Following subsequent fighting he was wounded and repatriated to England, where he spent some time in hospital. In a letter to his mother, he expressed his frustration that some other interloper would take over the command of his men, and that their favourite sport was taking the "Mickey" out of the "Tommy" officers.
At the end of WW1, he spent some time in the New Zealand army as a 2nd Lieutenant, before finally being discharged on medical grounds.

On re-joining civilian life, and during the depression years, he moved to Australia and worked at numerous and varied jobs. He married a divorced lady who had two boys and for a short while they lived in Norfolk Island.
The outbreak of WW2 found him in Australia and he joined up with the Australian Army. In doing so he changed his name by dropping the Brown surname and using his second name of Symington as his surname. He also put his age back by six years, and stated on his Attestation form that he was born in Queensland. He gave as his next of kin, two aunts who were single ladies, sisters of his mother whose names were Symington, even though all his siblings were alive at the time. Why he did this is not known.

On leaving Australia he carried the rank of "Sergeant" in D Company of the 2/5 Australian Infantry Battalion. The following, as recorded in the Book, "All the King's Enemies - A History of the 2/5th of the Australian Infantry Battalion" Written by S Trigellis-Smith, gives a small insight into his brief time of service with the Australian forces of WW2.

"Only Tim Seymour (Company Sergeant Major D Company) and Sergeant Symington had had previous experience in action. (Page 48).......Among the many individual acts of bravery those of Sergeant Symington MC (earned while serving as an officer with the New Zealand forces in the First World War) Deserve to be related. Sergeant Symington, already wounded in the head, arm and leg noticed Captain C.H. Smith, the Company Commander, firing a Bren Gun he had taken from another casualty. He crawled over to Captain Smith and insisted that he take cover behind him and rest the Bren gun on his body to give it steady support. Shortly after, a shell burst wounded Captain Smith and Sergeant Symington again. Some men, including Private G.N. Matthew, the company runner, dragged those two casualties back into the wadi and settled them into a stone hut in the Battalion area. Page 53).........On being told that there were wounded in a stone hut further down the wadi, Captain Smibert went forward and found six men from D Company including Captain Smith and Sergeant Symington. While he was attending to the wounded a shell hit the wall of an adjacent room and the splinters killed Sergeant Symington and further wounded Captain Smith....(who)...was to die in hospital some two weeks later. (Page 54)"

William Symington Brown MC, MM / Sergeant William Symington MID was my Uncle.
My father's brother.