We remember: William Dwyer

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A century on from the end of World War I we acknowledge their service …
Lest we forget.

Private William Joseph Dwyer
Born: 1892 Pakenham. Died: 18 February 1955 Penshurst.
Enlisted: 24 January 1917 aged 25
Served: Western Front

William was a younger brother of Thomas Dwyer and also attended St Patrick’s School before the family moved to Perth.

He was working as a coal lumper in Sydney when he enlisted in early 1917.

Perhaps reflecting the desperate need by 1917 for reinforcements on the Western Front, William was quickly embarked for England, where he was then taken on strength with the 1st Battalion on the Western Front.

There, on 27 May 1918, he was wounded in action. William was sent to an Army hospital at Wimereux, near Boulogne, France.

As this was just a couple of months after his brother was killed in action, his parents back in Perth must have been greatly relieved to learn that William was recovering from his injuries.

Photographs of the two brothers appeared together in a special “Western Australian Heroes” feature in Perth’s Western Mail newspaper in July 1918.

By the time William rejoined his unit, there was less than two months left in the war.

William returned to NSW. In his last years, he was working as a market attendant in Sydney.

This is an extract from Patrick Ferry’s book A Century After The Guns Fell Silent – Remembering the Pakenham District’s WWI Diggers 1914-18.
For more details on this and other profiles in the book, head to the website www.pakenhamww1.com