172 Driver William Deam - Bairnsdale Killed in Action 29 November 1915

….. buried in the tunnels under shell burst attack

William Deam was a local lad born and bred in Bairnsdale in 1890, his parents being Thomas and Elizabeth Deam. He enlisted in March 1915 a couple of months before his cousins, William Henry and John Simester Deam who were also killed. William and his cousin John rowed together in the local rowing club. William was extremely fit and was one of the rowing club members who was discharged as being medically unfit due to for poor chest expansion. This was a reflection on his controlled breathing from rowing. On William’s second attempt he was accepted and sent to Gallipoli, landing there on 30 August. On 29 November his company reached the tunnels on Plateau Sap (Lone Pine) where they took shelter when a shell burst burying six of the group including Deam. Under fire the remaining men attempted to rescue those buried but were not successful for all of them and when the men were relieved and off the front line Deam was missing at roll call. An enquiry on 21 January 1916 determined that he had been killed in action on that day at Gallipoli. His body was never recovered. When he died the decision to evacuate Gallipoli had already been made but William Deam didn’t live to see this happen.