JOYNT, William Donovan
| Service Numbers: | Officer, V80044 |
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| Enlisted: | 21 May 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Last Unit: | 3 Garrison Battalion (Vic) |
| Born: | Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia, 19 March 1889 |
| Home Town: | Elsternwick, Glen Eira, Victoria |
| Schooling: | The Grange Preparatory School, Melbourne Grammar School |
| Occupation: | Farmer, Soldier, Printer and Publisher |
| Died: | Natural Causes, Windsor, Victoria, Australia, 5 May 1986, aged 97 years |
| Cemetery: |
Brighton General Cemetery, Victoria Plot Lawn P Grave 126 |
| Memorials: | Emerald ANZAC Walk, Keith Payne VC Memorial Park, North Bondi War Memorial, Winchelsea WWI Memorial, Yarloop War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 21 May 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 8th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1 |
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Peacetime
| 21 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1 |
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World War 1 Service
| 7 Mar 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne | |
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| 7 Mar 1916: |
Involvement
AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 8th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' |
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| 25 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières | |
| 30 Sep 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
| 30 Sep 1916: | Wounded Shot in Right Shoulder | |
| 31 Dec 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
| 16 Apr 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages | |
| 8 May 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second) | |
| 20 Sep 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, Menin Road | |
| 3 Oct 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, Broodseinde Ridge | |
| 9 Aug 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, "The Last Hundred Days" | |
| 23 Aug 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion, "The Last Hundred Days" | |
| 26 Aug 1918: | Wounded "The Last Hundred Days", Shot in Thigh/ Buttock | |
| 29 Aug 1918: | Honoured "The Last Hundred Days", Victoria Cross | |
| 29 Oct 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 May 1919: | Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, AIF Headquarters |
World War 2 Service
| 23 Sep 1939: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant Colonel, Officer, 3 Garrison Battalion (Vic), Homeland Defence - Militia and non deployed forces | |
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| 26 Sep 1939: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Major, V80044 | |
| 28 Mar 1941: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant Colonel, Homeland Defence - Militia and non deployed forces |
WW1
The details provided are taken from the book "Stealth Raiders - a few daring men in 1918" written by Lucas Jordan, published 2017, refer to pages 62, 218, 269, 282 + 289. Prior to the war he was a farmer of Elsternwick Vic. He enlisted 5th May 1915 aged 26 years. He served with the 8th Infantry Battalion, rising to the rank of Captain, earning a "Mention in Dispatches" for his activities. He survived the war departing the UK for home 22nd Dec 1919. Capt Joynt maintained a diary during the war and this has been donated to the Australian War Memorial, reference 2DRL/0765. Also, he wrote a book "Saving the Channel Ports : 1918 after the breach of the 5th Army" published by Wren Publishing in 1975.
Submitted 26 February 2020 by Maxwell HILL
Victoria Cross Citation
For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the attack on Herleville Wood, near Chuignes, Peronne, on 23rd August, 1918.
His company commander, having been killed early in the advance, he immediately took charge of the company, which he led with courage and skill. On approaching Herleville Wood, the troops of the leading battalion which his battalion was supporting, suffered very heavy casualties and were much shaken. Lieutenant Joynt, grasping the situation, rushed forward under very heavy machine gun and artillery fire, collected and reorganized the remnant of the battalion, and kept them under cover pending the arrival of his own company. He then made a personal reconnaissance and found that the fire from the wood was checking the whole advance and causing heavy casualties to troops on his flanks. Dashing out in font of his men, he inspired and led a magnificent frontal bayonet attack on the wood. The enemy were staggered by this sudden onslaught, and a very critical situation was saved.
Later at Plateau Wood, this very gallant officer again, with a small party of volunteers, rendered invaluable service, and after severe hand to hand fighting turned a stubborn defence into an abject surrender.
His valour and determination was conspicuous throughout, and he continued to do magnificent work until badly wounded by a shall.
Submitted 24 May 2015 by Nathan Rohrlach
Biography contributed by Robert Kearney
Joynt, William Donovan (1889–1986)
by Bill Gammage
William Donovan Joynt, soldier, printer and publisher, was born on 19 March 1889 at Elsternwick, Melbourne, third son of Edward Kelly Joynt, a commercial traveller from Ireland, and his Victorian-born wife Alice, née Woolcott. He attended the Grange Preparatory School, South Yarra, and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School (1904) before taking office jobs, including one with an accountancy firm in 1906-07. In 1909 he sailed for Rockhampton, Queensland, walked to Mackay, joined a coastal steamer bound for Cairns, and did bush and farm jobs in North Queensland. He then worked in the Victorian Mallee and in Western Australia, and was dairying and digging potatoes on Flinders Island, off Tasmania, when World War I began.
Having served as a corporal in the Victorian Rifles, Militia, Joynt enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 21 May 1915. Commissioned on 24 December, he arrived in France in May 1916 and joined the 8th Battalion in July. On 30 September he was shot in the shoulder during a raid on the German trenches at The Bluff in the Ypres sector, Belgium. He was evacuated to England, commended in divisional orders and in December promoted to lieutenant. In January 1917 he rejoined his battalion and, except for three months at an army school and on leave during the 1917-18 winter, served with the unit on the Western Front until August 1918, fighting in the second battle of Bullecourt and at Menin Road and Broodseinde. Charles Bean’s official history published his vivid diary account of the fighting near Merris on the Somme on 12-14 April 1918.
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/joynt-william-donovan-12711 (adb.anu.edu.au)
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