William Henry BURNETT

William Henry BURNETT Update Details

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BURNETT, William Henry

Service Number:	2912
Enlisted:	22 November 1916, Sydney Show Ground Camp
Last Rank:	Sergeant
Last Unit:	Army Pay Corps (AIF)
Born:	Singleton, New South Wales, Australia, 31 January 1897
Home Town:	Petersham, Marrickville, New South Wales
Schooling:	Singleton Public School, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation:	Clerk
Died:	Killed in Action, Belgium, 16 October 1917, aged 20 years
Cemetery:	Ypres Town Cemetery Extension
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board

World War 1 Service

22 Nov 1916:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2912, 35th Infantry Battalion, Sydney Show Ground Camp
25 Nov 1916:	Involvement Private, 2912, 35th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Beltana embarkation_ship_number: A72 public_note: ''
25 Nov 1916:	Embarked Private, 2912, 35th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Beltana, Sydney
28 Aug 1917:	Transferred AIF WW1, Sergeant, Army Pay Corps (AIF)
28 Aug 1917:	Promoted AIF WW1, Pay Sergeant, Army Pay Corps (AIF)
16 Oct 1917:	Involvement Sergeant, 2912, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2912 awm_unit: Australian Army Pay Corps awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-10-16

Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board

William Henry BURNETT (Service Number 2912) was born on 31 January 1897 at Singleton. He commenced working with the NSW Railways as a temporary junior porter in the Sydney District in March 1913, becoming a permanent employee two months later. In February 1914 he took a position as a junior clerk. This was not only a step on a career path, but a change from daily pay rates to an annual salary. In June 1915 he transferred to the Traffic Audit Branch, but only two months later enlisted with the AIF. Routine increments in his pay rate are recorded until October 1918 even though he had been killed in action on 16 October 1917.
Burnett did enlist with the AIF but was immediately discharged for service with the Home Defence. It was not until November 1916, when Burnett made another application to enlist, that he was accepted into the overseas service section of the Australian Army. Although in 1915 he had correctly stated his age at 18, by 22 November 1916 this had increased to 21 years and a month.
He left Australia three days after his formal enlistment on 25 November 1916 on HMAT ‘Beltana’, reaching Devonport by the end of January and after further training and a bout of hospitalisation proceeded to France and was taken on the strength of the 35th Battalion at the end of July.
In August he was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the Australian Army Pay Corps but detached to the 35th Battalion as Pay Sergeant. His clerical aptitude and previous work with the Railways seem to have been recognised. Only six weeks later, on 16 October, however, he was killed in action in Belgium. The Australian War Memorial correctly records his age at the time of his death as 20 years.
At first, he was buried west of Cavalry Farm, 1¼ miles E. of Ypres, but later in the post-war rationalisation of cemeteries was exhumed and re-buried in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, Flanders, Belgium.
(NAA B2455-3171571)

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