CROSS, William Valeire
| Service Number: | 6971 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 December 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 1st Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Marrickville, NSW, 1886 |
| Home Town: | St Peters (NSW), Inner West Council, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Public School NSW |
| Occupation: | Bricklayer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Pozieres, Somme Sector, France, 1 December 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban E 37 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Baulkham Hills William Thompson Masonic School War Memorial, Lugarno W V CROSS Memorial, Municipality of Hurstville Pictorial Honour Roll No 1, Municipality of Hurstville Pictorial Honour Roll No 2, Sydney United Grand Lodge Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Dec 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 6971, 1st Field Company Engineers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 6971, 1st Field Company Engineers, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: SS Makarini embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 1 Apr 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 6971, 1st Field Company Engineers, SS Makarini, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Thomas Valyer and Julie CROSS, Forest Road, Hurstville, New South Wales
Member of the Hurstville 282 Lodge
Sapper William V. Cross has been officially reported killed in action in France. He was wounded in the battle of Pozieres, and taken to hospital. On recovering he returned to duty. The deceased was the second eldest son of Alderman and Mrs. Cross, of Hurstville. Prior to enlisting he was an active worker in connection with local friendly societes. His brother, Sapper Douglas D. Cross, is in England on his way to the front.
SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL.
At the junction of Lugarno- Parade and Moon Avenue, Lugarno, .Mr. T. V. Cross, of Forest Road, Hurstville, and who was Mayor of Hurstville a few years ago, after retiring from the police force as sergeant-in-charge at Hurstville, has had erected a monument in memory of his son, William Valiere Cross, who was killed in the Great War in France ill 1916. This soldier was a resident and property-owner at Lugarno, and he took a great interest in the district generally. The monument is of stone and marble and is of obelisk shape, 19 feet at the base, and about 15 feet high.
A monument is located on the corner of Ponderosa Place and Forest Road, Lugarno, on a triangular piece of land owned by Georges River Council. The memorial was erected by Thomas V Cross in memory of his son William, who was killed in action in France in 1916. It was originally constructed by 24 October 1930[1] on a site at the junction of Lugarno Parade and Moons Avenue on land donated by Thomas Cross, but following Thomas’s death in 1936 it was moved to its present location. Thomas Cross was a former Mayor of Hurstville, having previously been a police sergeant at Hurstville.
The monument is of locally-quarried stone with marble tablets, and is in the shape of an obelisk, three metres square at the base and about five metres high.
In late 1989 the monument was dismantled and moved a short distance away to rectify damage being caused by gum tree roots.
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