The AIF Project

Josiah WILLEY

Regimental number1789
Place of birthStawell, Victoria
SchoolRedan State School, Ballarat, Victoria
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationMiner
Address504 Cobden Street, West Ballarat, Victoria
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation28
Next of kinWife, Mrs Mary Elizabeth Willey, 504 Cobden Street, West Ballarat, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date25 February 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll6 March 1916
Place of enlistmentBallarat, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name57th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/74/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 4 April 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll59th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour Circular'Followed the occupation of miner in Ballarat and Daylesford, Victoria; at Mount Lyell, Tasmania; and at Waiuta, New Zealand for period of 20 years.' (details from wife)
FateEffective abroad (still overseas)
Age at death from cemetery records38
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner (Panel No 18), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
169
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Elizabeth Merry and Josiah WILLEY, 504 Cobden Street, West Ballarat, Victoria. Native of Stawell, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 59th Bn, Ferry Post, 24 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Posted missing, 19 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 29 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'.

Handwritten note on Form B103: 'Presumed Buried in No Man's Land approx 5J90 43 to 5K02.5.1 Sheet Hazebrouck 5A'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 2950410, 3238 Sergeant E.A.O. BAKER, C Company, 59th Bn (patient, Woodcote Park Hospital, England), 12 October 1916: 'Willey was hanging, badly wounded, on barbed wire in a creek at Armentieres, up to his waist in water. Informant was being carried down wounded and saw this. He got out of his stretcher so as to enable the bearers to go to Wiley's assistance ... Informant does not know what happened after that.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, WILLEY Josiah
Red Cross file 2950410

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