William Henry BOND

Regimental number3689
Place of birthSydney New South Wales
SchoolRozelle Superior Public School, New South Wales
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationClerk
AddressBalmain, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Next of kinFather, J J Bond, 4 Reynolds Street, Balmain, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed in Public School Cadets and underwent Compulsory Military Training.
Enlistment date19 August 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name13th Battalion, 12th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/30/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A29 Suevic on 20 December 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll45th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Military Medal


Recommendation date: 27 February 1917

Other details from Roll of Honour CircularWounded at Messines and at Passchendaele, Buried at Albert, France.
FateKilled in Action 6 April 1918
Place of death or woundingDernancourt, France
Date of death6 April 1918
Age at death19.11
Age at death from cemetery records19
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
139
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Joseph John and Janet BOND, 51 Lamb Street, Lilyfield, Leichhardt, New South Wales. Born at Rozelle, New South Wales
Medals

Military Medal

'For courage and determination shown by him in an attack upon enemy strong point and trench at GUEUDECOURT on the morning of 21st February, 1917. He acted with skill and coolness as a bomb thrower in the progress along the trench and owing to his tenacity of purpose, was one of the first to reach the objective where he showed great bravery in the face of a German counter bombing attack.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 133
Date: 21 August 1917

Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal