The AIF Project

William BECKER

Regimental number22292
Place of birthLondon, England
SchoolWhitfield Tabernacle Secondary School, London, England
Age on arrival in Australia17
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationMiner
AddressMarble Bar NW, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation43
Next of kinSister, Mrs H Birt, Box 751, Barberton, Transvaal, South Africa
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date6 January 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll5 January 1916
Rank on enlistmentGunner
Unit nameHowitzer Brigade 23, Battery 109
AWM Embarkation Roll number13/133/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A7 Medic on 20 May 1916
Rank from Nominal RollGunner
Unit from Nominal Roll3rd Divisional Ammunition Column
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularWorked his passage to Australia unbeknowns to his amily; entered his uncle's business but tired of office work. Took up tin mining about 106 miles from Perth. Died at sea of heart failure on SS "Ulysses" on the return voyage to Australia following the conclusion of hostilities.
FateDied of disease 26 January 1919
Age at death46
Age at death from cemetery records47
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
21
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Henry and Caroline BECKER. Born in London, England
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

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