William Desmond ARMITAGE

ARMITAGE, William Desmond

Service Number: 6031
Enlisted: 26 August 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 17th Infantry Battalion
Born: Yeovil England, February 1888
Home Town: Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Commercial Traveller
Died: Cobar, NSW, 6 January 1956, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Cobar Cemetery, NSW
Memorials: Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

26 Aug 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6031, 17th Infantry Battalion
25 Oct 1916: Involvement Private, 6031, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: ''
25 Oct 1916: Embarked Private, 6031, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Sydney
15 Apr 1917: Imprisoned German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages, Battle of Lagnicourt POW Limburg, Germany
3 Nov 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 6031, 17th Infantry Battalion, 2nd MD

Help us honour William Desmond Armitage's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From Ian Fletcher, (nephew)

6031 Pte William Armitage
 
'The Battle of Lagnicourt' 15th April 1917, remembering the 17th Battalion A.I.F. especially 'C' Company during this short 3 hour attack at Noreuil there losses totaled; 29 Other Ranks killed, 5 officers and 96 other ranks wounded and 51 other ranks posted as missing making a grand total of 181 of all ranks.

C Company could only muster one Officer and twenty seven other ranks at the end of the combat.

My uncle 6031 Pte William Armitage, 'C' Company, was listed as Killed in Action that day but appeared on a German POW list in June 1917 in Germany
He was repatriated to the UK on the 30th December 1918 and married my Dads eldest sister and returned to Australia

17th Battalion A.I.F. Not Forgotten

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