The AIF Project

William Joseph RAINBOW

Regimental number1722
Place of birthClarendon, Victoria
Place of birthKongwak, Victoria
SchoolKongwak State School, VIctoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationHorticulturist
AddressMildura, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation26
Next of kinFather, Joseph Rainbow, San Mateo Avenue, Mildura, Victoria
Enlistment date18 April 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll2 May 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name38th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/55/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A54 Runic on 20 June 1916
Regimental number from Nominal Roll1722A
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll60th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)


Commended for action, 12 May 1917 but no recommendation made.

FateKilled in Action 12 May 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Age at death28
Age at death from cemetery records27
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
170
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Joseph and Marian RAINBOW, Merbein, Victoria
Family/military connectionsCousin: Alfred George Wesley Williams, killed in action.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

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