| Regimental number | 1134 |
| Place of birth | Dry Lake nr Bourke, New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | Muswellbrook, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 23 |
| Height | 5' 8.5" |
| Weight | 138 lbs |
| Next of kin | Father, Duncan Charles Gamble, Muscle Creek, Muswellbrook, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | West Maitland, New South Wales |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 34th Battalion, D Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/51/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A20 Hororata on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 34th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), 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. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 123 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Duncan and Martha GAMBLE. Native of Dry Lake, Bourke, New South Wales |
| Family/military connections | Cousin: 2184 Pte David Henry ZERK, 36th Bn, killed in action, 30 April 1917. |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Embarked Sydney, 2 May 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 23 June 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 21 November 1916. Detached to Working Party, 29 April 1917; rejoined 34th Bn, 15 May 1917. Wounded in action, 18 May 1917 (gun shot wound, right leg and groin), and admitted to 11th Field Ambulance; transferred to 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 19 May 1917; to Ambulance Train No 12, 19 May 1917, and admitted to 3rd Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne; transferred to England, 24 May 1917, and admitted to Northampton War Hospital; discharged on furlough, 2 August 1917, to report to No 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 16 August 1917. Marched out to Overseas Training Brigade, Longbridge Deverill, 28 August 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 17 September 1917; rejoined unit, in the field, 30 September 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 12 October 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, GAMBLE William John |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
