The AIF Project

William Henry BACON

Regimental number1078
Place of birthDungog, New South Wales
SchoolRoss Hill State School, Inverell, New South Wales
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
AddressRoss Hill, Inverell, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Height5' 7"
Weight141 lbs
Next of kinFather, H Bacon, Ross Hill, Inverell, New South Wales
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date12 January 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll12 January 1916
Place of enlistmentInverell, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name33rd Battalion, D Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/50/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A74 Marathon on 4 May 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll33rd Battalion
FateKilled in Action 7 June 1917
Place of death or woundingFrance
Date of death7 June 1917
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 4 May 1916; disembarked Devonport, England, 9 July 1916.

Admitted to 11th Field Ambulance, 17 March 1917 (diarrhoea); discharged to duty, and rejoined 33rd Bn, in the field, 21 March 1917.Posted as Wounded and Missing, 7 June 1917.

Now, 1 March 1918, reported as 'Killed in Action, 7 June 1917'.

Handwritten notation on Form B103: 'Buried'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 180101, 1059 Pte R. BURGESS, 33rd Bn (patient, Napsbury Hospital, St Albans, England), 20 November 1917: 'I knew Bacon very well. We called him "Paddy". On June 7th 1917 at St. Ives near Messines, we went over the top. He was killed by a machine gun bullet. I do not know whether his death was instantaneous but think so. I saw his body when it was brought in two days afterwards. He was buried in a little cemetery at Ploegsteert Wood, near Messines.'

Second statement by 1059 R. BURGESS, 8 December 1917: 'Our Battalion went over on the morning of June 7th at St Yves, Messines Ridge[.] I did not see him killed, but his body was found after the attack was over among many others that were killed during the attack, and to my knowledge he was buried with other ones that had fallen in the attack in a cemetery near Ploegsteert Wood on the right of Messines Ridge. I could not say that it was the same man as you enquire for as I don't know rightly whether that was his number or not, but then he is about the only man in the Battn by that name since I knew him. I could not say how he was killed as I was not near him when he fell.'

Third statement, 1265 Pte O. THOROGOOD, D Company, 37th Bn, 13 December 1917: 'I saw him hit through the back in two places in No Man's Land to the right of Messines and I gave him a drink out of my bottle. I don't think he could have lived as he was nearly dead when I left him.'

Fourth statement, 1265 P. THOROGOOD, 17 January 1918: 'On 7th June 1917, I was with No. 1078 Private Bacon W.H. 33rd Battalion as members of a Lewis Gun team in an advance at Messines. About 1 p.m. we were recalled to the old line, and when about half way back I saw Bacon fall in a shell hole. I got into the same hole. Bacon said he was hit and I saw blood coming from his back below the shoulders. He told me to go on and catch the others up as our orders were that on no account should we stop if a comrade was hit. About 2 p.m. we went forward again and I came to Bacon in the same shell hole. He wasn't dead, but he could not speak or move and his lips were black. I left my water bottle with him and went on as we had been ordered to do. That is the last I have seen of him. On the 9th June I was sent back, ill with pleurisy. There was heavy shell fire in that part all the time I was there.'

Fifth statement, 2371 Pte O.L. O'BERG, D Company, 33rd Bn (patient, No 4 Australian General Hospital, Randwick), 8 January 1918: 'Paddy Bacon was killed in No Mans (sic) Land at Messines on 7/6/17 and I saw his dead body on that date. I lay in the same shell hole and am quite certain it was Paddy Bacon. I was wounded five or six hours afterwards.' Notation on file: 'A reliable and careful witness.'

Sixth statement, 2417 Pte T.J. SCOTT, 33rd Bn, 1 February 1918: 'On the 9th June 1917, I was walking back to the Dressing Station at Messines after being wounded in Ploegsteert. I saw the dead body of No. 1078 Private Bacon, 33rd Battalion[,] lying in No Man's Land, he had evidently been hit through the side just above his thights for I saw a lot of blood on his tunic. I am absoutely certain it was Private Bacon I saw, for I knew him well and he was in my platoon.'

Seventh statement, 983 Pte F. MANSFIELD, 33rd Bn (patient, George's Heights Hospital, Mosman), 18 December 1917: 'Well, the only thing I can tell you is I didn't see Pte. Bacon on the 7th June, but I enquired that day about him, as he was a mate of mine, and some of my comrades told me that he was wounded and he died going out on the stretcher as the stretcher-bearers were taking him out of the line. I didn't see him myself so I cannot swear to it, but I believe it to be true about him, as he wasn't take a prisoner.'

Eighth statement, 2192 Pte H. EASTON, 33rd Bn, 4 March 1918: 'I saw him lying dead, back about 50 yards from the front line at Pleogstraete (sic) Wood. I think he was buried on the spot.'

Ninth statement, 1204 Pte L.V. McGREGOR, D Company, 33rd Bn (patient, No 4 Australian General Hospital, Randwick), 5 July 1918: 'His mates were Ellis and Scott ... Scott told me a few days after Messines that Bacon had been severely wounded at Messines in June 1917, by a shell and died before they could get him off the Field ... Scott seemed quite certain of what he told me, and said Bacon only lived a short while.'

Tenth statement, 1147 Sergeant J.R. HANNA, D Company, 33rd Bn (patient, No 4 Australian General Hospital, Randwick), 17 March 1919: I did not see him killed. I saw him after he had been killed in No Mans (sic) Land at Ploegsteert on or about the 7th of June 1917. I was then acting as Company Sergeant Major and in pursuance of my duty I reported his death to Battalion Headquarters.'

Eleventh statement, 2192 Pte H.EASTON, 33rd Bn, 26 April 1919: 'I did not see him killed. I saw him after the stunt lying on the ground a few yards away from where we dug in. He was dead.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, BACON William Henry
Red Cross File No 180101

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