GRUMMITT, William Henry
| Service Number: | 5678 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 January 1916, Bundaberg, Qld. |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery |
| Born: | Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Cordalba, Bundaberg, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 26 September 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Aeroplane Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium III B 20, |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Childers Isis District Roll of Honour, Childers Isis North State School Great War Honour Board, Childers Memorial Hall (Isis District Pictorial War Memorial), Cordalba War Memorial, Wooroolin WW1 Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5678, 15th Infantry Battalion, Bundaberg, Qld. | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 May 1916: | Involvement Private, 5678, 15th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Choon embarkation_ship_number: A49 public_note: '' | |
| 4 May 1916: | Embarked Private, 5678, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Seang Choon, Brisbane | |
| 26 Sep 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 5678, 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5678 awm_unit: 4th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-09-26 |
Grummit William Henry 5678
William H Grummitt was born 24 Apr 1891 near Bundaberg, the first child of William & Susan Grummitt. By 1914 the family were living at Cordalba and William was a labourer and Horse driver per his Army record. He enlisted in the AIF on 22 Oct 1914 at Bundaberg but was discharged a month later at his own request.
Then on 4 Jan 1916 he reenlisted at Brisbane and was assigned to 15th Battalion, 18th Reinforcement. It looks like he may have been working in the Wooroolin district during 1915 for his name to be on the Wooroolin WW1 Honour Board.
William and his unit embarked from Brisbane, on board HMAT A49 Seang Choon on 4 May 1916 and proceeded overseas to France. In Feb 1917 he was transferred to 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery. Light Trench Mortar Batteries were generally deployed close to the front line so that the enemy was within range. Mortars are simple but terrifyingly effective weapons; almost as old as gunpowder itself. The mortar’s characteristic high angle trajectory suited it to trench warfare with its capacity to lob bombs right into trenches. They suffered one major drawback; their relatively short range meant they were necessarily located close to the front lines.
William was killed in Action on 29 Sep 1917 in Belgium aged 26 years. He was buried first in the field with a cross erected over the grave and later re-Interred to Aeroplane Cemetery, (Plot III, Row B, GRave No. 20), Ypres, Belgium
The Red Cross files available on the AWM website include a letter where a London photographer sent photos, taken whilst William was on leave, to France and had been returned. The letter states William had unexpectedly found his brother and they had photos taken together. James Leslie Grummitt served in the 26th Infantry Battalion and returned home in May 1919
There are memorials for William Grummitt at Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Childers Memorial Hall (Isis District Pictorial War Memorial), Cordalba War Memorial, Isis District Roll of Honour, Isis North State School HB, Wooroolin WW1 Roll of Honour and Kingaroy Honour board.
Lest We Forget.
Submitted 3 December 2022 by Carol Berry
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of William and Susan GRUMMITT, Isis, Queensland
Biography contributed by Ian Lang
#289 and #5678 GRUMMITT William Henry 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery
William Grummitt was born at Bundaberg to parents William and Susan Grummitt of Cordalba. William attended school at Cordalba and then worked in the local sugar industry. He presented himself for enlistment in Bundaberg on 22nd October 1914 and was allocated as a driver of horse teams to the 5th Light Horse Regiment which was being assembled at Enoggera. On 23rd November, William requested a discharge from the Light Horse which was granted and he returned to Cordalba to resume work at the nearby Isis Central Sugar Mill for the next year.
On 4th January 1916, William travelled to Brisbane where he enlisted at the Adelaide Street Depot. He stated his age as 24 years and gave his occupation as engineer (probably the position he held at the Isis Sugar Mill). William named his mother, Susan, as his next of kin. William reported to Enoggera camp where he was drafted into the 18th reinforcements for the 15th Infantry Battalion. On 4th May, the reinforcements boarded the “Seang Choon” in Brisbane and sailed for the Australian staging camps in Egypt. Upon arrival in Egypt, William was promoted to the rank of corporal.
There was no immediate need for infantry reinforcements in the Australian Divisions which had been sent to France in the first half of 1916 and so William and the other surplus troops boarded another ship in Alexandria and sailed to England where they were taken in by the 4th Division Training Battalion at Codford. In August and September 1916, the battalions of the 4th Division AIF, which included the 15th Battalion, suffered significant casualties at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm. Once the division was relieved from the front, the reinforcements in England were sent across the English Channel to make up the losses. On 14thOctober, William took the short ferry ride from Folkstone to Etaples and ten days later was taken on strength by the 15th battalion which was in the rest areas around Ypres in Belgium. Upon joining the 15th, William reverted to the rank of private.
The onset of winter brought about a move up to the front again for the 15th where the men had to endure freezing temperatures and sickness. On 17th February 1917, William was transferred from the 15th Battalion to the 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery.
The Stokes Trench Mortar had been introduced into the battles of 1916 on a trial basis but by 1917, it was clear that a weapon that could counter the enemy’s mortars was needed. Consequently, manufacture of the Stokes increased and the weapons were assigned to specialist mortar units. As the name implies, the mortars were deployed in the trenches to target enemy strongpoints. The presence of a mortar crew would attract counter fire from the opposing trenches and the infantrymen who shared the trench would be left to suffer the enemy’s wrath long after the Stokes crew had moved on. Needless to say, light mortar crews were not welcomed by the infantry.
The 4th LTMB supported actions undertaken by units of the 4th Division AIF. In June of 1917, a major campaign involving all of the Australian divisions began in the Ypres salient. The 4th Division was one of two AIF divisions engaged in the battle of Messines and the LTM Battery supported attacks by the 13th brigade of the 4th Division. After that action, William was promoted to corporal. Once the Messines ridge was cleared of enemy observers, the real advance could begin.
The successful attack against the Gheluvelt Plateau on the 23rd September 1917 by the 1st and 2ndDivisions of the AIF in the Battle of Menin Road was swiftly followed up by a further advance to the Tokio Spur and Polygon Wood by the 4th and 5th Divisions. At 5:50am on 26th September, the brigades of the 4thDivision rose up from the jump off tapes and followed the creeping artillery barrage towards the Tokio Spur and the Zonnebeke Railway Station.
The war diary of the 4th LTMB for the 26th September records simply “5:50 am; good targets; 3 killed, 13 wounded.” One of those three killed was Corporal William Grummitt; probably by shell fire. William’s body was taken back to a temporary cemetery where it remained until the cessation of hostilities allowed for isolated and temporary graves to be exhumed and the remains reinterred in permanent cemeteries. William was laid to rest in the Aeroplane Cemetery just outside the city of Ypres (now Ieper). His family back in Cordalba chose the following inscription for his headstone:
HIS NAME IS WRITTEN IN LETTERS OF LOVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE HE LEFT BEHIND
The reason for William’s name appearing on the Wooroolin Memorial, so far from his home is an anomaly that information available today cannot explain. Perhaps there may have been someone from the district who remembered him fondly.
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