Wongarbon NSW
1634
54th Battalion
RTA 19.9.19
Private William Charles Cleaver was a 22 year old labourer of Wongarbon, NSW when he enlisted at Dubbo, NSW on 8 January, 1916. He is listed as a Tooraweenah Kookaburra.
His medical examination described him as 5’ 8” tall, 133lbs (60kgs), chest expansion of 33 ½” – 36”, dark complexion, grey eyes, mid brown hair and religion, Church of England. His mother, Mrs B Uptin of Wongarbon was his next of kin.
After training at Bathurst, William embarked from Sydney on the HMAT Ceramic on April 14, 1916 bound for Egypt, and arrived on 17 May, 1916. After training in Egypt, he joined the 54th Battalion in France, shortly after the Battalion had lost 65% of their men at Fromelles. He faced a bleak winter manning the trenches in the Somme Valley and saw action at Bullecourt and Polygon Wood.
In 1917 and 1918, William had several admissions to hospital with illness and three times was wounded in action; May 1917 gunshot wound to left foot and sent to England for treatment and convalescence, In April 1918 gunshot wound to the back and was buried by an explosion and then he gassed in October 1918.
In April 1919 William commenced his journey home. He returned to Australia on the ‘Orita’ arriving in Sydney on 19 September, 1919 and was discharged on 18 December, 1919.
He married Matilda Doreen Heather Booth in Petersham, Sydney in 1924 and died on 2 February 1984.
William was issued the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. William Charles Cleaver is commemorated on the Wongarbon War Memorial and the Virtual War Memorial