Foley, William Robert

4791 Private William Robert Foley 11th Battalion AIF

William Robert Foley was born in Melbourne Victoria in 1895 to William and Mary Foley. The family soon moved to Western Australia where they took up residence in Mandurah Road South Fremantle. William was educated at the Beaconsfield Primary School and also served in the 86A Cadets of the Citizens Military Forces. After leaving school William took up employment as a labourer. With the outbreak of the Great War, William enlisted at the Swan Barracks in Perth on the 30^th November 1915. He was found to be fit for service with the medical examiner recording William’s physical attributes as;

Height:                                     5 feet 7 & ¼ inches;

Weight:                                    121 lbs;

Chest Measurement:               32-25 inches;

Complexion:                            Fresh;

Eyes:                                       Grey;

Hair:                                        Dark Brown;

Religious Denomination:         Roman Catholic;

Distinctive Marks:                    5 vaccination scars.

Upon his successful enlistment William was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was allotted to No.39 Training Depot. On the 21^st December William was transferred to the 15^th Reinforcements to the 11^th Battalion AIF. William trained with this group for the next three months while they waited for their departure orders to arrive. These finally came through and on the 1^st April 1916 his group boarded the HMAT Ulysses in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for Egypt, disembarking at Alexandria on the 25^th April 1916.

Upon being disembarked from the ship William and his group were marched into the AIF reinforcement camp. The 11^th Battalion had previously left for France so the men would have been sent on to join the 3^rd Training Battalion in England. However William came down ill with influenza so he was sent to the 2^nd Australian Stationary Hospital. He remained a patient here until the 26^th June, when he was released from hospital and so William was then transferred to the AIF Depot Camp at Tel-el-Kebir. He remained in camp here for several more weeks and then boarded a transport ship at the end of July which took him to England. Upon disembarking William was then sent to the 3^rd Training Battalion at Perham Downs Camp. He had a few weeks in this camp but on the 21^st August 1916 he left Perham Downs Camp and proceeded to Southampton to board a troopship for France.

Upon his arrival in France, William was sent to the 1^st Australian Division Base Depot in Etaples. He remained here for several days and was then sent to the 11^th Battalion, being taken on strength of “A” Company of the 11^th Battalion on the 4^th September 1916. The 11^th Battalion had just been through the Somme battle, seeing action at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, and had been sent to a quieter part of the line near Ypres in Belgium. The 11^th remained in Ypres until November 1916 when they were sent back to the Somme battlefield. William and the 11^th Battalion would spend the French 1916/17 winter in the Flers region, where they had to man trenches in the muddy battlefield. It was the coldest French winter in decades and many soldiers were evacuated sick though William appears to have got through fine.

At the end of February 1917 the Germans began their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. It was a fighting withdrawal as it was pressed all the way by the Australian and British divisions. The 11^th Battalion saw action at Le Barque and Morchies and in April they held an outpost line at Lagnicourt. On the 15^th April the Germans launched an assault on this line and they were initially successful as the Australian posts weren’t connected and they were able to make their way through the posts, surrounding and capturing the men in many of the positions. The Germans were eventually repulsed and there were large casualties for both sides. William was initially reported missing from this action but news soon came through that he had been captured at Boursies/Lagnicourt. After his capture William was sent to Germany where he was put in a Prisoner of War Camp in Limburg. A short letter was received by his family via the Red Cross in December 1917, which stated;

“Interned Stuttgart, I have been very lucky myself and have come out without a scratch. I am in good health myself and have been ever since I was taken Prisoner on the 15^th April 1917.”

William remained a Prisoner of War until the Armistice in November 1918. He was then sent back to England arriving at Dover on the 19^th December 1918. After arriving in England William was given a period of furlough after which he reported to No.2 Command Depot camp to await a passage on a ship back to Australia. On the 3^rd March 1919 William boarded the SS Euripides and set sail for Australia, disembarking in Fremantle on the 10^th April 1919. After his arrival home William was given a medical check up at No.8 AGH in Fremantle and then was discharged from the AIF on the 11^th May 1920.

William Robert Foley died on the 24^th November 1971 aged 76 and is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery in plot RC OC 506A.