2434 Private William George Thexton – Bairnsdale Died of illness 15 May 1916

….. the first of eight sons to serve

William and Elizabeth Thexton’s first son, William George, was born at Heathcote in 1885. He was the first of eight sons to serve his country: four in world War 1 and four in World War 2 and their uncle also enlisted. The family had moved to Bairnsdale in 1896 and started farming at Wy Yung where the children – William, John, Marabella, Albert, James, Charles, Percy, George, Alfred, Morris Lillian and Ronald went to school. William had been in the local 13 th  Light Horse regiment for five years and the Citizen Military Forces before the war. At 31 years he enlisted for overseas service in January 1916 with the 7 th   Reinforcements. His brothers James and John had already enlisted in the previous October. In May he left Melbourne on the Clan Maccorquedale  which was headed for Fremantle before leaving Australian waters. William was admitted to sick bay while on board and once the ship arrived in Western Australia on 13 May he was transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Subiaco. Little could be done for him as he was suffering from spinal meningitis and pneumonia and died two days later. William was buried with full military honours at the Karrakatta cemetery. The firing party, which led the cortage was from his regiment and they marched from the mortuary to the cemetery accompanied by the army chaplain who conducted the funeral. The respect that was afforded William was not unappreciated by his father who thanked the department for the manner in which his funeral was conducted. William is remembered on the Bairnsdale, St John’s Church and Wy Yung honour rolls.