Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private William Sims West (Service No:2649) enlisted in the AIF on 11 January 1916 and was attached to 1st Light Horse Regiment 18th Reinforcements. On 2 May 1916 he embarked from Sydney on board HMAT Hororata bound for Egypt. He was WiA on 1 November 1917 at the Battle of Tel Khuweileh, and was awarded the Military Medal 'for conspicuous gallantry in action at Tel Khuweileh on 3rd November 1917. This man although wounded in the shoulder and hand remained on duty supplying ammunition to the firing line ... taking the wounded to cover' (Australian War Memorial). In March 1918 Private West wrote home 'There are a lot of different kinds of Australian trees here, including gums and wattle, and it does one's eyes good to see them again .... We had a week in the trenches before Xmas, and witnessed one of the best bombardments on this Front .... You can't imagine the noise these shells make - just like and express train going at full speed, it's very pretty at night too' (Trove; The Bacchus Marsh Express). In a letter written home from Palestine in April 1918, Private West wrote 'After staying a few days at Richon, we started on a stunt north of Jerusalem, towards Nablous, which proved one of the roughest we have ever had. It rained the whole time and the country was so rough we couldn't get limbers or wagons up. Had to make pack horses out of our saddle horses, consequently we were often without rations .... We camped one nigh at a place called Ram-Allah, we had nothing much to eat, were stiff with the cold and wet. I had made up my mind to walk about all night, but found a cave in the rocks; although it had about two feet of water in the bottom, the air was warm, so a few of us collected a lot of stones and built them up until we had a heap two feet above the water; then made a bit of a bed on top of the stones - it was hard but we managed to get some sleep' (Trove: The Bacchus Marsh Express). On 10 September 1918 he was appointed Lance Corporal and 2nd Lieutenant on 13 March 1919. On 10 April 1919, 2nd Lieutenant West embarked at Kantara, Egypt bound for Sydney on board HT Ulimaroa and was Discharged on 8 June 1919.

Born in 1885 at Lake Bolac in Victoria, Bill was the third of eight children of William West (b1850 in Northamtonshire, England) and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Sims (b1851 in Lancashire, England). William Snr had emigrated with his parents and siblings in 1852, arriving at Port Philip Bay, Victoria on board the Marlborough and was a Farmer at Lake Bolac when he and Lizzie married in 1880. William Snr and LLizzie lived in Lake Rowan and Mernda in Victoria where William was a Farmer.

Bill was an Overseer in Wagga Wagga NSW in 1913 when he married Ada Catherine Christinia Morrison (b1891 in Creswick, Victoria). Ada remained in Ballarat, Victoria where their son was born in 1914. Bill returned to Wagga Wagga where he was an Agent for Dalgety & Coy. In April 1914 at Young NSW Bill married Mildred Scott Liddle (b1883 in St Leonard's NSW). In August that year Bill was charged with Bigamy and sentenced to two years hard labour in Goulburn Gaol. Released from prison on 8 January 1916, Bill enlisted in the AIF three days later.

In 1919, Ada filed for Divorce, claiming that Bill's parents did not acknowledge the marriage, and that on at least two occasions in 1914 when Bill visited her, he had attempted to poison her.

Bill was an Overseer in Melbourne, Victoria following WWI, and in 1929 married Annie Doris Jones (b1889 in Maryborough, Central Goldfields, Victoria) - Annie had been living in Melbourne since the early 1900s. Bill and Annie lived in Melbourne, Victoria where Bill was an Overseer before moving to Tongala in Indi, Victoria in the early 1940s where Bill was a Lands Inspector. By 1949 they had moved to Numurkah nr Shepparton, Victoria where Bill was a Lands Inspector. Bill and Annie retired to Melbourne - Bill died in 1964 and Doris in 1969.