Horace WHEELER

WHEELER, Horace

Service Numbers: 3325, 59617, V5255
Enlisted: 12 March 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 17 Garrison Battalion (Vic)
Born: Richmond, England, 16 May 1890
Home Town: Darlinghurst, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Plasterer
Died: Illness, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 June 1944, aged 54 years
Cemetery: Springvale War Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

12 Mar 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3325, 1st to 15th (NSW) Reinforcements
16 Nov 1915: Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 19th Infantry Battalion
21 Jun 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 59617, 3rd Infantry Battalion, 2nd MD

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, V5255
4 Aug 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, V5255, 17 Garrison Battalion (Vic)

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

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From How We Served
 
The final resting place for; - (3325), 59617 & V5255 Private Horace Wheeler of Darlinghurst, New South Wales & Northcote, Victoria had been employed as a plasterer when he first enlisted for War Service with the 1st AIF on the 12th of March 1915 and was allocated to reinforcements for the 19th Battalion 1st AIF.

Retained within Australia, Horace would be reallocated to the 13th General Service Reinforcements and was embarked for England and further training on the 17th of July 1918.

Following his arrival in England, Horace was allocated to reinforcements for the 3rd Battalion, and entered into camp at Fovant with the 5th Training Battalion.
Whilst in his training phase, before being readied to be sent over to France, Horace would spend time being hospitalized for sickness, and due to this was still in England when the Armistices was formally signed on the 11th of November 1918, which brought about the end of the ‘Great War’. No longer required to be sent to the trenches, Horace began his repatriation back to Australia, departing England on the 12th of April 1919.

Having returned safely back to Australia, Horace received his official discharge from the 1st AIF for his re-entry into civilian life on the 21st of June 1919.

With the outbreak of a second world conflict, Horace again presented himself for re-enlistment with the Australian Military Forces on the 4th of August 1940, and was accepted for full-time service within Australia.

Horace’s service would be continuous, and by 1944 he was serving with the 17th Garrison Battalion, when he was evacuated due to illness. Whilst still being hospitalized, Horace succumbed to sickness, when he passed at the premature age of 54 on the 23rd of June 1944.

Following his death, whilst serving Australia during World War Two, Private Horace Wheeler, a veteran of the ‘Great War’, was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria.

Read more...