| Regimental number | 166 |
| Place of birth | Boggabilla, New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Pipe moulder |
| Address | Goondiwindi East, Queensland |
| Marital status | Married |
| Age at embarkation | 31.2 |
| Height | 5' 9.75" |
| Weight | 160 lbs |
| Next of kin | Wife, Mrs Stella Alice McCasker, 'Caramba', Hope Street, South Brisbane, Queensland |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 42nd Battalion, Machine Gun Section |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/59/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A30 Borda on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Sergeant |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 42nd Battalion |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | July 31st 1917 during an advance E. of Messines, this N.C.O. was in charge of a Platoon. His platoon was hold up by wire and machine gun fire from a shell hole so 20 yds in front. The Cpl forced his way alone forcing the garrison to surrender with their gun intact this action earned him the Militalry Medal. |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 33 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 33 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 27), 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 | 135 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: William Carr and Annie McCASKER, Mooroobie, Goondiwindi, Queensland; husband of S.A. McCASKER |
| Medals |
Military Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 9 Date: |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 173 Pte CHARLES EDWARD McCASKER, 42nd Bn, killed in action, 3 July 1917. |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Wounded in action, 24 May 1917 (gun shot wound, right wrist). Killed in action, 4 October 1917. Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, McCASKER William Carr |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
