William Gordon Hamilton Crowe
Stephen LearmonthWilliam was born in 1892 in Jingellic, Victoria. He was one of four sons and one daughter born to George and Jane Cathcart (née Hanna). Three of George and Jane’s sons would enlist and travel overseas during World War 1. Two would not return home. George had been born in Ireland in 1863 and had travelled out to Australia in 1877, six years prior to marrying Jane in 1883. Jane had been born in 1855 at Whiskey Flat, near Yackandandah, Victoria.
William was a 23-year-old bank officer in the the Back of Australasia at Druin in Gippsland when he enlisted in the AIF at Warragul in late February 1916. After enlisting, and before commencing his training, he moved in with his mother at “Kingston”, 37 St. Edmonds Road in Prahran. He was originally placed in C Company of the 37th Battalion and allocated the regimental number 845.
After initial training in Australia, William embarked on HMAT A34 Persic at Port Melbourne on the 3rd of June 1916. They arrived at Plymouth approximately six weeks later. On the 23rd of July, the battalion entrained at 6 pm for Amesbury, Wiltshire and arrived at No. 5 Camp, Lark Hill at 2:15 in the afternoon of the 26th of July. Training at Lark Hill consisted of developing specific skills required to survive trench warfare on the Western Front. It would take the battalion four days from when they left Southampton on the 22nd of November to finally arrive at Armentieres in France and commence their time at the front line.
Over the next three months, William was in and out of hospital suffering from a variety of skin infections and irritations. These included scabies, dermatitis and finally cellulitis of the elbow. After initially spending time at the 1st Canadian Casualty Cleaning Station and then 13th General Hospital in Boulogne, he was sent back to England for rest, recuperation and, finally, a two week furlough.
After being transferred to the 66th Battalion, William was promoted to temporary sergeant and sent to the Officer Training Centre at Tidworth in Wiltshire on the 2nd of June 1917. Due to the close proximity of Australian training camps, Tidworth became the headquarters for the Australian Imperial Force in the UK from mid - 1916.
Finally, in mid-July 1917, William was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the battalion reinforcements. He once again proceeded overseas to France and, after a stint at the 3rd Australian Division Base Depot in Rouelles, France, was transferred from the 66th Battalion back to the 37th Battalion. On the 18th of December he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
On the 27th of January, the 37th Battalion relieved the 21st Battalion in the Warneton sector. This sector was considered a reasonably quiet one and the 37th suffered “only” seven casualties, three ORs (other ranks) killed and four wounded, during the month of January. In early February one officer (William) and 25 ORs from B Company underwent training for a trench raid that would occur on the night of the 10th/11th.
The 37th Battalion War Diary for the 11th of February 1918 states;
“At 10 pm “minor operation” was carried out against enemy trenches, by composite party of 37th and 38th Btns, each Btn supplying 4 off[icers] 100 OR [other ranks]. The great was a great success, 33 prisoners were captured and a normal (228 RIR) identification established.”
William’s group made up the right flank assaulting team. Initially, they met strong resistance but, although several groups had to fight their way to the final objective, the party reported that they were “all in” by 10:06 pm. Several dugouts in the enemy’s second line were bombed with phosphorus, Stokes bombs and demolition charges. The casualties of the 37th Battalion for this patrol included 17 wounded, 2 killed, 2 died of wounds and 11 missing. One of the missing was Lieutenant William Crowe.
Private W.G. Bruce (31138) also of the 37th Battalion and captured during the raid, gave a detailed account of what happened to William.
“No. 6 party - under L/Cpl Billson had to go out to the right to the second German line, a storming and block party. We were very close to the River Lys. We had got to our objective and were returning. Our party had just got to the junction of the communication trench with the second German line when we saw a party of unarmed Germans - about 10 coming down the 2nd line trench, probably from the pill box marked H. The man in front of me, Cpl Billson, stopped them and they started to run back again. Just then we heard Lieutenant Crowe’s voice “One of you chaps come up here, I have used all my revolver ammunition” He was holding his torch at the Germans. He was quite by himself, almost at the point where the communication trench joined the German 2nd line trench. I went round to his assistance. I was holding Cpl Billson’s rifle against a German and so went to Lieut Crowe’s assistance with it, not having one myself. A couple of the Germans turned to run back. Crowe and I were very close together and a bomb dropped in between us (probably from the pill box) I was wounded in the legs and he was wounded in the legs and stomach and said “I’m done for”. I found I could stand up and Crowe told me to go and tell Lieut. Hunter in the front line that “he was done for”. I tried to go over and collapsed. The Germans afterwards found me lying there and carried me to the Dressing Station in a bit of a village - a dug out building - all fitted with beds where I saw Lieut Crowe. He was conscious lying on a stretcher and he asked me how I got on. We were talking for a time and then a German who could speak English came and asked us our Battalion. We were dressed in Tommies clothes with no identification disks bearing names. [This was done to confuse the Germans as to what units they were facing, the Australian uniform being very different to the one worn by the English] We each had one bearing a special number. Crowe said that we need tell no more than our names and number and refused to tell more. I did too. I stopped there about four hours and Crowe was carried away on a stretcher. He was very badly wounded. They said they were taking him to a hospital. He again mentioned while there, that he was done for. It was just day break when they carried him away, and I went into Hospital at Roubaix, with Pte Powell, who had been wounded just inside the Bosche barbed wire and picked up after the men had gone back. He had gone into one of the pill boxes with Crowe earlier in the raid and had missed him afterwards. While there a couple of days later, a German came around and told me that Crowe had died in hospital.”
William was buried at Bousbecque German Military Cemetery, south west of Menin, in France. Seven months later, Australian GHQ received a package from Germany which included William’s wristlet watch, knife, 8 francs, 20 centimes and ½ penny. These were subsequently sent to Jane in Australia. After the war his body was reinterred at Pont-du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, France, 20 kilometres south west of Bousbecque.
William is also remembered at the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, and the Corryong War Memorial. For his service, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
