William Arnold

Lance Corporal William Leslie Arnold

Year of Birth: 1890

Date of Death: Died of war wounds on 16/08/1916

Age at Death :26

Nationality: Australian

Regiment: Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 9th Battlion

Family: Father-Francis Benjamin Mother- Margaret McDonald Arnold

Occupation: Labourer

William Leslie Arnold enlisted in the 9th Battalion on the 24 May 1915. He enlisted in Queensland, Australia. His parents lived in Warragul Victoria. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal after his arrival in France on the 5 July 1916. He was wounded in action in the trenches at Pozieres during the Somme on the 22 July 1916. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right ankle and thigh.

The next day he was transferred to the 1st Australian General Hospital at Rouen. On the 14th August he was transferred to England but died of his wounds two days later on the 16th August 1916.He was finally buried at the Lodge Hill Cemetery Birmingham, along with 53 other Australians who died in the military hospitals around Birmingham.

The very next day, 17 August 1916, his younger brother Francis Benjamin Arnold was wounded near the same village of Pozieres. Francis was shot in the face and suffered compound fractures to the face and nose. He reached a major hospital in Etaples within a few days, but died from his wounds on the 25 August 1916. He was only 20 years old.

AWM4 Subclass 23/26 - 9th Infantry Battalion

Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War

On 22nd July:

'We are to hold trench east of Pozieres...For particular operations see attached report'

25 August 1916. Private Francis Benjamin Arnold, 6th Australian Infantry Battalion, of Warragul, Victoria.

He was wounded in action in France on 20 August 1916, suffering gun shot wounds to his face and knee, and died five days later on 25 August 1916 at the 1st Canadian General Hospital aged 20. He is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, Etaples, Nord Pas de Calais, France.

In the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery France 10,771 soldiers who been buried here died in the First World War, including several hundreds of German soldiers. The majoriy of the men buried here died in field hospitals that were situated in the area during the First World War.

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