Private Eric Robert Wilson and Samuel Charles Wilson, 53rd Battalion, AIF Part 1
Australian War Memorial3534 Private Samuel Charles Wilson, 53rd Battalion, AIF
KIA 19 July 1916
Photograph: P05445.001
4887 Private Eric Robert Wilson, 53rd Battalion, AIF
KIA 19 July 1916
Photograph: P05445.002
Known as “Sam”, Samuel Wilson was born in Braidwood, New South Wales, in 1885. He was the seventh of 12 children born to George and Isabella Wilson, and was followed by three sisters and two brothers, Eric in 1895, and James in 1898. The family moved a number of times and the two youngest sons were born in Port Macquarie, where the children went to school. By the time James was born their mother was 50 years old and their father 55. George Wilson worked in the local sawmill as an engine driver, and several of his sons followed him, including Sam, Eric, and James.
Sam Wilson enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915, and was followed by Eric and Jim, who enlisted together two days later. The three began training together, but Sam and Jim were allotted to the 3rd Battalion and left Australia in November 1915, while Eric sailed the following March with the 1st Battalion. The three were reunited in Egypt, where they were all transferred to the 53rd Battalion, and ended up in the same platoon of B Company.
The 53rd Battalion arrived in France to fight on the Western Front in late June 1916. Three weeks later the battalion was committed to its first major operation, an attack on German positions near the village of Fromelles. The 53rd was part of the first attacking wave, and suffered heavy casualties in what is now known as the worst 24 hours in Australia’s military history.
Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section
Sources:
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“Obituary: Mrs George Wilson”, The Port Macquarie News & Hastings River Advocate, 8 February 1919, p. 5.
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“Casualty list”, The Port Macquarie News & Hastings River Advocate, 9 September 1916, p. 2.
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AWM Last post ceremony link below
